Reviews

After just seeing this film again (I guess the fourth time now), it still get's my eye's wet when John (George Dzundza) starts the eggs in the end.

This is an emotional roller-coaster of the likes we don't see served up anymore. Sure, some come close, but nothing compares. The meticulous, engaging and daring character development gives us a look into the lives of these everyday men and their loved ones. It makes the infamous "Russian Roulette" scene(s) so much more emotionally charged they are almost unbearable to watch.

Once every while I need to see this film and usually it completely messes up my day. I think about stuff I usually don't think about and get quiet. Then it takes a couple of days before I can see another film and no matter what I watch it's always slightly disappointing.

In my humble opinion, this is what movie-making is about. 10/10

What an awesome and engaging movie experience this is. It's not only a fine piece of storytelling, it's done with such superb style and aesthetic, not many films I've seen in this genre can rival it. The visual flair of a John Woo-, or Pang brothers movie mixed with intricate "Departed" like storytelling. It just oozes absolute cool. "Bangkok Dangerous"(the original) comes to mind and also "Fulltime Killer" by Johnnie To.

But it's so much more then that. Besides a complete aesthetic pleasure it brings a "true story" based yarn that is so unbelievably cool it has to be true. Portrayed amazingly by all involved but particularly by the aging hit-man and the young tenacious detective. You really need to keep your eyes and ears open as the story constantly switches sides, sometimes at break neck speeds, sometimes at a nail bitingly suspenseful snails pace, as it unfolds to a satisfying ending. I am not going to reveal any details, the synopsis should do just fine, just step in and take the ride.

Another thing that needs to be mentioned is the soundtrack. Really cool!! Maybe not always fitting the mood, but really modern classic cool.

It's a completely different film from the other recently released great Philipinne film "Metro manila" but it's at least as engrossing. I hope these two treasures are a sign of more to come from the Philipinnes for I will most definitely be waiting and watching 9/10

Wow, what a heartfelt, beautiful piece of film making. It starts of slightly confusing and I was somewhat afraid of a college thriller type thing, which it is thankfully not. Of course the comparisons with "Crash" come to mind, but to me this was even more effective and emotionally charged. Especially because of the story of the extremely troubled Kevin. On the other hand, his story might be the least believable to some viewers. He is fact the protagonist here, and his actions are what drive the entire story. His, and the divided Dre's failure to make his own decisions. And they are so extreme, that you dare not think people like Kevin actually exist.

Kevin is played very well by J. Michael Trautmann as is Dre by Evan Ross. Everyone for that matter is awesome in their roles, but I was particularly astonished (again) by the masterful David Oyelowo, who so convincingly pulls of the righteous black American neighborhood uncle I'd almost swear it was a lookalike actor playing the character.

I can't remember how I came across this, but I picked it up cheaply on Amazon and was pretty much engrossed till the last bitter minute. There's one thing I don't understand here. The rating... This deserves so much more, check it out and find out what I mean 8/10

My recently reinvigorated love for homeland (Dutch) cinema led me on a personal quest to find more undiscovered gems. And what a gem I discovered with this film. Absolutely amazing that this didn't grab my attention earlier, but I guess that's also partially due to a slightly indifferent film industry in The Netherlands. Smaller, independent films tend to get less attention here.

It's a beautiful little story of a father and son who share an intense relationship and manage to stay afloat with petty crimes and odd jobs they do for a local crime figure. But when character differences start to drive them apart, their dreams of a better life slowly turn into nightmares.

The fact that the film plays out in Zuid-Limburg and is spoken completely in local dialect is probably a big disadvantage as well. I'm Dutch myself and couldn't understand half of it, so I was thankful for the Dutch subtitles. A disadvantage release wise that is. Not story wise. For me it worked perfectly, almost as a foreign film including, again for me, mostly unknown actors. All actually, except Johan Leysen, who was great as usual. But it was not Leysen who stole the scenes. It was the father and son and particularly Bart Slegers as the father "Lei". He is as stupid and selfdestructive as is painfully possible, and completely believable. Every ounce of him breathes a rough and tortured past. A beautiful heartbreaking performance.

This makes me want to see films like "Rundskop" again, or the movies by the Dardenne brothers, or even (and he's my absolute favorite) all films by Jacques Audiard. This is in the same league. It has a similar sober style, stylish but never too much. Just wonderful engaging storytelling. 8/10

Dutch cinema is on the rise. Last few years the films have become better and better, mainly because they're not as Dutch anymore.. Strange reasoning perhaps, but others familiar with Dutch cinema will now what I mean. This goes for mainstream films but in particular the less mainstream or even art house films. Not that I would consider "De Wederopstanding van een Klootzak" as art-house, but it definitely isn't mainstream. In that way it's a strange film, and one I really enjoyed very much. I loved the character's, of which some were kind of clichéd, cartoonesque, presented in beautiful settings and colours, meticulously framed every time. I didn't read the graphic novel on which this film is based but I can definitely imagine some of the framing is taken straight from it (as in f.e. "Sin City").

It's not all style over substance. It has two nice intimate story lines that intermingle at certain points, I won't spoil the how and when, and it shows great acting by all concerned. Yorrick van Wageningen plays Ronnie so well, I felt quite torn on whether to like him or despise him.

All in all a great Dutch film, no, a great film. Period.. And if I would have to compare it with other work, it would be Nicolas Winding Refn's 8/10

Australian movies of late have really been on the rise, with some great entries like "The Rover","The Mule", "Son of a Gun" and "Mystery Road", just to name a couple. And now this. Another very entertaining piece of film making with excellent acting all round particularly the powerhouse performance by Sullivan Stapleton. He really is the main attraction, and I still wonder why we don't see a lot more of him in American action-pulp. On the other hand, here he proves once again to be a great actor capable of a lot more than the gung-ho marine beats and shoots bad guys type he plays in the Strike Back series, so maybe a couple more of these great indie productions wouldn't hurt at all. Particularly check the guy out in the amazing "Animal Kingdom" by the director of "The Rover". In which he also plays a charged up volatile character even more perfectly. A highly recommendable movie.

This doesn't reach that class, but definitely is in a class of it's own. I love the fact the movie plays out in the 70's including the perfect soundtrack and meticulous detailing. This combined with some great tension building, pretty shocking twists and confronting bouts of violence makes it a movie that stands out just that bit more than an average comparable US made production. 7/10

Indeed ignore other reviews written. This was a great watch. Kaya Scodelario was awesome and Ed Skrein really impressed me as well. I had seen him before in something I can't really remember and wasn't impressed, so when I heard he was doing the (unnecessary) Transporter reboot I was disappointed, this however was a great edgy performance from him.

The whole film by the way was pretty damn edgy. Maybe a couple small holes here and there, sure, but most were adequately explained. I particularly love this type of home invasion, one location, against the odds story done on a shoestring budget. And it brought some old school nailbiting tension as well.

I really don't understand the criticism. Of course this story has been done before, but this one definitely had it's own originality. This combined with gorgeous photography, a gorgeous leading tough girl, and an overall great cast, always nice to see Dougray Scott in action, he's just great at dying slowly, made for an excellent exiting watch. 7/10

This is wonderful modern film noir and somewhat of a rarity in Scandinavian cinema. Don't get me wrong, I love Scandinavian movies and believe they form an important part of European film making. But I particularly like it because of it's sober style and realistic topic's. This however is a different animal. A case of (mis)taken identity that turns into a delirious nightmare which masterfully unfolds in the shape of flashbacks and recovering memory loss. Lot's of style, beautiful lighting and cinematography.

Once again, flawless acting from the whole cast. A very intense role from Danish favorite Nicolaj Lie Kaas, perfectly countered by everyday man Jonas played by Anders W. Berthelsen.

I will not reveal the storyline as with all noirs it should be experienced and revealed as the beautiful puzzle it is. Only other film that comes to mind is "Vanilla Sky" which is of course a complete remake of the superior "Abre Los Ojos". And I'm actually amazed this hasn't been remade. So before they do decide to do so, check it out and experience it yourself 8/10

An absolutely amazing film. Beautiful deep storytelling with some heartbreaking performances. All performances all the way round were just amazing.

A nice sober way of presenting the narrative, with lot's of style but never distracting. Everything centered on these beautifully written characters and their mainly painful situations. And painful it gets.

Films like this are rare. "Crash" comes to mind and especially "Short Cuts" and maybe "Magnolia", but the heartache felt here and the wonderful complexity I have only before seen in one other movie. and that was "Amores Perros", which is my favorite film of all time.

It's a hard watch and it's draining and I probably won't see it again for a couple of years, but it is absolutely essential viewing that I can't recommend highly enough 10/10

Okay, so I liked this. It was a nice view and a nice bit of escapism for 2+ hours. But it didn't hit me. I have a unsatisfactory feeling of missed opportunity, of watching yet another run of the mill Hollywood production.

Off course I knew this film would deal with the same horrific history as the far superior "Citizen X" and I guess my expectations were a little to high, especially with such an awesome cast. Performances were good overall, but nowhere were they brilliant. And the story for me was very muddled, but I guess that's also to do with the period in Russia in which this film plays out. For me the heart of the story, the childmurderer case, felt rushed (despite of the 2 hours+ running time) because of the slow and really slightly tedious first part of the movie.

I've seen "Citizen X" more than a couple of times and Stephen Rea's performance brings a tear to my eye again and again, not to mention the maybe even more emotional wonderfully understated role by Max von Sydow. None of that in this one. The only bit that came close, without spoiling anything, was the scene with Gary Oldman (who else) visiting Rostov.

Joel Kinnaman was miscast, or typecast, and annoying. Fares Fares had to little to do and even Nicolas Lie Kaas' performance felt under-directed. Such great actors appearing in Hollywood movies, but performing nothing like they do in the movies they make at home.

"Safe House" was cool, "Snabba Cash" remains his masterpiece,"Child 44" is a missed opportunity for Daniel Espinosa. Iff you didn't see it, go find and watch "Citizen X" and shed a tear over one of history's most horrific episodes ever.. 6/10

Damn, this started out great, with two devilishly sexy women feeling each others boundaries, and just as you think it's going to get steamy the man walks in and spoils not just the scene but the whole movie.

It really went belly up from there. I don't know where it all went wrong, I guess in the directorial department. I was really disappointed by the acting of most involved, especially Ludivine Sagnier. Which was strange, as I've seen her do way better in other productions. Here she either has a blank stare or a very irritating way of overacting, none believable sobbing and laughable death stares directed at her senior college, Kristin Scott Thomas. Thankfully KST does play acceptable but I guess that's her experience and the fact she's just an allout great actress. Most of the male actors are also rubbish. To me this just reeks of lousy direction.

Now the story. While played out quite nicely, is at the same time just way to simple. Without going into detail, it's all laid out to see and then later on, everything gets explained as well. The changes Sagnier's character goes through are so obvious it's sometimes almost cringeworthy. The suspense there is to be found, which is really hardly any, has no impact whatsoever if a character is just not believable and just does another, however sexy, blank stare into nothingness.

No, I love French cinema for it's edge, realism, great acting and storytelling, but none of these are to be found here 3/10

A simple Argentinian family makes a fresh start by reopening a hotel in the Pategonian mountains left behind by the mothers parents.

Their first guest is a well spoken foreign man, who seems as mysterious as he is intelligent. His interest in this family and his further activities in the nearby town make us wonder about the double agenda he is keeping.

As the family starts to doubt his motives, and other characters also start to show their true colors, we are presented with an intricate tale of mounting tension and international mystery. Of course we know who we are dealing with, and this type of story would work even better if that detail was unknown, but it still works so well as it remains, for the biggest part, fiction. So anything can happen. The fact that we are dealing with THIS monster just gives the whole film an extra layer of creepiness.

The film, to me, didn't come across as Argentinian at all, but I guess the mountainous (and snowy) surroundings and bilingual dialogue caused that. However this didn't matter as these surroundings where pretty spectacular and almost a character of their own.

Sollid acting, all around. Particularly the doctor and the girl, but really everyone involved. As said, beautiful surroundings and locations and always nice to watch a period based story (eventhough some details may not have been entirely right). And above all, great storytelling. Nicely built up tension, never too sensational and it thankfully steers clear of the expected clichés dealing with a character of such history.

Great, engaging, emotional, old fashioned, must see film 8/10

A small scale thriller in a very wide setting. The Mojave dessert. Off course this film is predictable yet it still had it's surprises and it has a brilliant turn from Michael Douglas as the pervertedly rich and megalomanic exec out on a hunting trip. He is nicely countered by the young guide he takes along as they soon run into a whole heap of unexpected trouble.

This is mostly Jeremy Irvine's film and he does a fine job but it's Douglas who shines in his role. It's almost as if Gordon Gecko has finally made it big and is now wasting his days and money shooting big game all over the world.

The story has plenty of tense and painful moments and some glorious views of the surroundings. The ending however was pretty abrupt. Without going into detail: I was okay with the ending... until it went on. Those last minutes were just so ridiculous they almost ruined the film. It just did not fit the mood of the rest of the story.

Apparently this story has been done before, some 40 years ago, don't know which film, but I know I've seen it more recently starring Lance Henriksen and Luke Goss. The film "Bone Dry". Very comparable, at least as nice as this one and without the ridiculous ending.

So overall pretty good, great turn from Mr Douglas but just walk away at 85 min. 6/10

Esteban, Ricardo Darin, is a quiet normal guy with a normal life. He is meticulous in his work as a taxidermist but fantasizes about doing more exiting things with his life and intellect. While on a hunting trip with a friend, opportunity accidentally comes knocking and partially unbewilling he takes on a role more dangerous then he would have ever wanted or dreamed of.

We, the viewer, take the plunge together with Esteban. His intelligence and especially his photographic memory help him to fill in a lot of the gaps, but of course we know from the start that he's in over his head. Still, we keep guessing, we keep getting snippets and clues of what's going on and where it's all going. It's film noir in it's purest form, a stunning, gripping mystery laden with suspense and dread. Everything happening at a snails pace but as Esteban slowly loses grip on the situation, the story grips the viewer tighter and tighter.

Ricardo Darin is perfect as the naive Esteban. The man is magnetic and completely effortless. I love everything I've seen with him, but this is most definitely my favourite performance.

A real big shame to loose such a talented director.'Nueve Reinas' was a great film and a huge promise, but man did it come true with this film. What other masterpieces could he have made. Made me a little sad whilst watching. These are the types of films I personally absolutely love. Sober, slow burning yet extremely watchable.

Not nearly this good, but thematically similar and also pretty recent and from Argentina is 'Todos Tenemos Un Plan'. And another film this also reminded me of was 'Intacto' but then purely the mystery factor, and maybe some of the settings.

Highly recommended masterpiece 10/10

The story of David (a absolutely perfect Rupert Evans), a timid softhearted man who slowly looses control of his life after loosing his wife, in this well crafted whodunnit/ghost story.

To call this pure horror would be incorrect. It's really more of a psychological thriller. And the way David breaks down in his obsession of finding out whodunnit is the true horror. The fact that there's a very young and innocent boy involved makes it even more so.

It is however all disguised as a ghost story, and this is done brilliantly. The atmosphere is just great, the colors and lighting are also wonderful. I love what they've managed to do with a (I suspect) small budget. As mentioned before, the lead Rupert Evans can't get enough praise (hard to imagine he's the same guy as the nerdy young man who get's appointed to hold Hellboy's hand). And the kid, even though apparently hardly scared of anything, also does a great job. I also liked the fact that David's wife Alice is Dutch (at least a Dutch actress, with notable accent) and that they choose her mother to be a Dutch actress as well (more notable accent). Nice bit of realistic casting. More praise to that poor nanny Sophie, who also kind of goes through hell.

Atmospheric, stylish, moody and gloomy as hell. Just my cup of tea 8/10

I love these small lowkey and low budget thrillers that work. Particularly in a nice gloomy environment. And this one just about plays out entirely in a storage facility.

A nice mystery that keeps you guessing for most of its runtime and has got some good suspense and unexpected twists. Acting is also pretty good, particularly by 'Uncle' Leonard.

Yes the final third is slightly more predictable and less suspenseful but definitely good enough to keep it interesting.

I loved it. It kind of reminded me a little of "King of the Ants" by Stuart Gordon, even though the acting was much better in this one. 7/10

I went into this film having seen some of the directors other work. I loved "Celda 211" and the crazy adventure-fantasy "El Corazon del Guerrero" (absolute must see). So I had pretty high hopes.

I was however slightly disappointed. A pretty bland and in my opinion uninspired film. Yes, it had some great action sequences, even though I wouldn't go as far as to call this an action movie, and some great locations and visuals. But it was a pretty routine rise and fall story of a trio of young friends wanting to make it in the big boys business. For me it was lacking the tension this type of 'cops and criminals' film needs. An edge and rawness that "Celda 211" most definitely did have.

The best parts for me were amongst the policemen and -women. They were also the best played out and parts acted. Louis Tosar is always great and I hope we will (and already are) be seeing more of him in international productions. It was the young ones that didn't quite nail it. A trio of pretty simply written characters (even reminding me of early John Woo characters, like in "A Better Tomorrow"). The Halil character was just to young and innocent looking for the part, the overzealous Compi was the cliché dumb guy and sometimes pretty annoying and the steelblue eyed Nino didn't really have that many expressions and came over pretty wooden. Even when he meets and eventually courts the beautiful Amina, his demeanor doesn't change at all. All this plus an underused (permanently hidden behind sunglasses) Ian McShane made a potentially great story a disappointing view.

Comparable in subject matter but way more exhilarating are "The Business" and the recent "Gibraltar".

..is the reason why I gave this 1 out of 10. And that is quite fair as it's really the only attractive thing about the whole damn production. The movie was slow, very slow. The action lacked everything an actionscene needs. The effects were all computer generated including some very badly done muzzle flashes (even I can do better..) and very very amateur. And worst of all : The lead actor couldn't even act to save his own life. He just tries to look mean all the time and it just doesn't come across. There are occasional shots (not even scenes) where he comes off less bad. But I'm talking occasional seconds here and there. The director is either scared of this man as well or he's just a 12 year old kid who's just finished his school project. That's what most of this reminded me of. Give some dimwit a bag of money and a box of cameratricks and let him film the script his 8 year old brother wrote.

I started watching this knowing what to expect, hoping for some gratuitous violence, occasional ridiculous sexscene and downright cool crap. I was hoping for a grindhouse type production. Well. Hellride sucked, but it's a complete masterpiece compared to this turd. An absolute waste of time.

To start of with: this is NOT a found footage film. Some footage is found of the brutal slaying of a family on vacation in France, and it's analyzed and sets of the rest of the proceedings. The film is presented in a documentary style, nothing to do with found footage..

And this doesn't make any difference since it's quite a brilliant film. Or maybe it does since some of those found footage films tend to take pretty illogical steps just to keep the FF gimmick alive. This is just a great, extremely original and thankfully very realistic take on the werewolf saga, slowly built up as a mystery murder thriller.

"Experienced" experts are brought in to examine this apparent brutal animal attack, however who could be prepared for what's to follow. Okay, the ending might have been slightly predictable but it is done with such vigor and ferociousness it's still highly enjoyable and very exciting to watch.

Very well done, very well played by all, absolutely stunning make up- and gore effects, an excellent choice to let it play out in a different country and oh so original. It reminded me of that other very original genre film of late: "Afflicted". Iff you enjoyed that, you will absolutely love this! 8/10

Wow, what a riveting watch.. It had me completely captivated from start to finish. Tilda Swinton's performance of the titular character is so good and believable it just hurts to watch. She is a timebomb, an avalanche waiting to happen a plane on it's way down, ready to crash and burn. She's extremely sexy, yet you wouldn't even touch her with a shovel. Tilda Swinton is the film.

Opportunity comes knocking when Julia meets a neighbour at an AA meeting. A way to possibly fix some of her (financial) problems and extend her endless party, 'cause that's all Julia does. Get into trouble and party. However this opportunity offered is so twisted and so improbable it's more likely to be a shortcut to her inevitable demise.

I can't stop ranting on about this performance from Tilda Swinton. It's so pure, so convincing. I absolutely love her. I would want to take this character under my wing and gently nurse her back to sanity. Just like her her friend Mitch (played perfectly by Saul Rubinek) wants to do. She almost meets her equal in the neighbour Elena, an also stunning performance by Kate del Castillo. Almost like adding one volatile chemical to another. She just drove me crazy, but in a good way. A mentally unstable damaged woman that, you know, can not be good for Julia.

What kind of film is this.. Is it black comedy? Is it tragicomedy? It's like a Coen brothers film doused in alcohol, bleach and a hefty dose of realism and with such a performance by the lead I'm amazed I didn't hear from this earlier on. In it's sadness and tragedy and insanity the only other film you could compare this with is Keane by Lodge Kerrigan. Very highly recommended 8/10

Chris Hemsworth's character Hathaway is freed from jail to join a team of cybercrime specialists in their hunt for a cyber ciminal that reeks havoc across the globe with his digital attacks on several highly secure systems, without going into techie details.

What evolves is a rather intimate crime thriller which despite it's global playground still to me manages to remain fairly small and even understandable. Usually, these stories tend to get snowed under with tech talk and (for us mortals) inexplicable computer action, but this one kept it all pretty minimal and fairly well explained. Just a solid crime story following the team in hot pursuit..

I thought Chris did great although he didn't really have a lot to do besides looking cool, but I really enjoyed some of the supporting roles. Particularly Viola Davis and Holt McCallany as the supporting FBI companions and a great role by Ritchie Coaster as the main henchman "Kassar". Sadly we don't get to much screen time for Yorick van Wageningen, a great and very different villain with his sloppy look.

It's a slow burner, just the way I like them, with an interesting but not to complex plot, riddled with moments of pretty intense action. Is it Mann's best film? No, but it comes pretty damn close. 8/10

A nice brooding noir kind of mystery thriller. Pretty original and effective in the Spanish language, though it probably would work very well somewhere in the marshy backlands of America. It's just a nice tight story.

A couple of small time crooks with a common past make the mistake of doing their "bussiness" within their one very tightknit community. This goes wrong and turns pretty volatile as this outback, marshland community is used to dishing out it's own justice among it's inhabitants. Agustin steps into his brothers shoes and a world that is far more scary and anxious then the one he has desperately tried to flee.

A great film with some beautiful photography and nice mounting tension, but as i mentioned, it could have played out almost anywhere. When I watched it I (obviously) thought it was Spanish, I found out after that it's Argentinian. This doesn't really show anywhere. It's in fact a pretty small film, as small as it's tightknit community.

Nice, but weird, to see Viggo Mortensen in this role. He plays it perfectly but it's still slightly distracting to me. Supporting cast is good too, particularly "Baby" and 'best' friend "Adrian". The only role that didn't really impress was the wife "Claudia". It was either her acting or the maybe less believable role she has to play, just not entirely convincing.

All in all a good low key, slowburning thriller. Bit of mystery, bit of tension and a bit of yearning. Remade, with some gunfights and explosions, this would probably turn into a "Homefront" type of movie, so let's just leave it as it is. 7/10

So I read a lot of complaints about the movie being slow and missing tension and violence. Why? Because of the title? Do the viewers nowadays pick their movies just on title and trailer?

The title is perfect: This movie is all about violence. Every single moment in this film is a consequence of- or triggered by violence. Even all the news broadcasts on the radio are about violence. Abel's business is, as he says "in a rough patch". There are good years and bad years and this one is a particularly bad one. The fact that the movie doesn't feature a lot of violence makes it an even better one as the threat of it is constantly palpable.

As for the tension: my god, what tension did I feel. I won't describe moments, but one particular chase sequence had me biting my nails, and I haven't done that in a very long time. There is constant tension in almost every scene and almost unbearable tension in some. And of course throughout the whole film you keep asking yourself; is he that honest, will he yield, or will he even snap. Oscar Isaac's role as Abel is written and played out so well I can understand the comparisons to Pacino's Michael Corleone in the Godfather. Hell you could even mention the two films in one breath. It has a great classic feel to it, though this is much smaller and more intimate.

A modern classic like: "We own the night" by James Gray or the recent "The Drop" by Michael R. Roskam. Beautiful slow burning masterpieces. This film will stay with me for quite a while. I'll put it away, wait for a rainy day somewhere in winter and experience it all over again. 8/10

What can I say about this film? It's ridiculous, it's dumb, it's excessive and it's like the lead character Everly, full of holes.. But it's so much fun. It borrows from a lot of other comparable action films, as do they all, but it does not want to be the next "Kill Bill" or "Smokin' Aces". And who would want to do that.. I mean they're both very enjoyable movies for what they are, but no more then that, with KB in my opinion being slightly overrated as it's in fact no more then this film, but for a tighter plot and epic storyline. Stories that provide the means of showing of as many as possible ultra cool glorified moments of movie violence.

It's got enough originality to stand on it's own within that genre. And if it reminded me of anything, it would be "Shoot 'Em Up". Any red blooded male that cán admit to enjoying this will have a blast watching it. And yes it has it's cringe worthy moments of lesser acting and story telling, but what do you expect, it's not aiming at the Oscars, it's aiming at the numerous villains, whores and anything else that passes in front of the crosshair. It's pure senseless escapism.

It's mainly unknowns to me in this film, except for some familiar Japanese faces. It's of course the Salma Show all the way. And she deserves it, even though I doubt she had a lot of fun making this, with all she has to be going through wearing very little clothing.. She is stunning and gorgeous and covered in holes, blood, grime and gunpowder and she sure as hell deserves her paycheck. Absolute fun performance.

The rest of the cast is great too, particular nod to the guy on the couch, who brings some great scenes of relief.

Some great visual flair, some interesting story telling (story?) and a heck of a performance by the leading lady: I'd say, get a couple of buddies to come over, some beers and some chips and step in to this world of pain 7/10

It all starts out with the return of Estelle, gangster Tommy's cold as ice wife, back to get their share in a daring heist that ended a bit complicated. As details slowly come to light for all parties, including the audience, and Estelle finds out that getting the money won't be as easy as she thought, she manages to get herself into a whole lot more trouble then she bargained for.

The way this is played out is just awesome. Cold believable characters capable of the worst that slide around each other in a snakepit waiting to explode. And all this at a snails pace, however this snail leaves a trace of blood ánd slime.

Visually it's stunning. Sober, sterile, rich photography and the acting is just flawless. Noa Gammel is gorgeous but also has this lived and worndown look and Ola Rapace gives a great performance, I will be looking out for more of his films. The one who steals the show is Johan Rabaeus as the character "Steve"; He is a scary predator on the prowl. Awesome performance.

It reminded me slightly of another great modern Swedish crime masterpiece: "Snabba Cash". Different pacing off course, but the style and setting and the coldblooded characters...

Just awesome. The Scandinavian collection keeps on growing. I just hope some dumb American won't get the idea of remaking this. It just wouldn't work. 8/10