I liked this film. Right from the beginning you feel the claw of the master: another masterly script by Kim Fupz Aakeson, beautiful cinematography by Philip Øgaard and competent direction by Hans Peter Moland.
It starts very slowly. For those who adore breath-taking actions, it might be too slow all the way long. Nils Dickman (!) (Stellan Skarsgård), an immigrant from Sweden is to become citizen of the year. His main job is to keep open a path to civilization - with the help of a snowplow in winter time. The next day police announces that his sun was found dead. He died of an overdose. Nils refuses to believe that his son was a drug user and since police is not going to be helpful, he decides to investigate by himself. Soon he finds out that the nearby airport is a hub for drug dealers. Nils kills his way up to the top of the gangsters. Thereby he triggers a gang war between the local Greven (Pål Sverre Hagen) and the Serbian Papa (Bruno Ganz). Both criminals are probably not copied from reality, but very entertaining in their own way: Greven is a vegan, in spite of his bloody business and constantly fighting with his ex-wife about the custody for their son. Papa on the other side is presented as a blend of Ceausescu and Don Corleone.
Sure this is not Coen Brothers and (fortunately) not Tarrantino. It is neither a clinical study about a model citizen who slowly becomes a killing machine - it is pure entertainment. The plot development is partly predictable, but there are still some interesting twists and turns. The revenge Nils Dickmann takes is taken in a underchilled. laconical way, sometimes trouching the farcical though.
7/10
It starts very slowly. For those who adore breath-taking actions, it might be too slow all the way long. Nils Dickman (!) (Stellan Skarsgård), an immigrant from Sweden is to become citizen of the year. His main job is to keep open a path to civilization - with the help of a snowplow in winter time. The next day police announces that his sun was found dead. He died of an overdose. Nils refuses to believe that his son was a drug user and since police is not going to be helpful, he decides to investigate by himself. Soon he finds out that the nearby airport is a hub for drug dealers. Nils kills his way up to the top of the gangsters. Thereby he triggers a gang war between the local Greven (Pål Sverre Hagen) and the Serbian Papa (Bruno Ganz). Both criminals are probably not copied from reality, but very entertaining in their own way: Greven is a vegan, in spite of his bloody business and constantly fighting with his ex-wife about the custody for their son. Papa on the other side is presented as a blend of Ceausescu and Don Corleone.
Sure this is not Coen Brothers and (fortunately) not Tarrantino. It is neither a clinical study about a model citizen who slowly becomes a killing machine - it is pure entertainment. The plot development is partly predictable, but there are still some interesting twists and turns. The revenge Nils Dickmann takes is taken in a underchilled. laconical way, sometimes trouching the farcical though.
7/10
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