Headhunters - Review

When things are hot, they’re really hot it seems. Continuing the trend of high caliber Scandinavian exports (and naturally already billed for an American remake) comes Morten Tyldum’s Norwegian hit Headhunters, a viciously unpredictable thriller based on Jo Nesbo’s novel of the same name already garnering something of a cult following in Western media.

Diminutive Roger Brown (Aksel Hennie) is a slick hotshot leading a double life of desperation, a successful corporate head hunter spending well beyond his means to lavish riches on his glamorous wife Diana (Syvonne Macody Lund). To maintain his decadent lifestyle, Roger happens to steal highly valuable pieces of art in his down time, often from prospective recruits.

This reckless pursuit catches up with him when he encounters highly esteemed business honcho Clas Greve (Hollywood Dane Nikolaj Coster Waldau), a former Special Forces soldier turned CEO who just happens to possess a priceless painting believed lost during the Second World War. Seeing the chance of a life time, Roger cannot help himself. But he quickly regrets it as Greve strikes back and sends him into a head spinning fight for his life, a battle of wits and wills he’s not cut out to win.

Unashamedly putting stylized thrills before grounded substance, Headhunters gains most of its plus marks in the pure entertainment stakes, playing with the audience’s expectations and often dumping them into the same unknowing quagmire as the unsympathetic protagonist. There’s no denying that the often farcical plotting and suspense filled chase are a joy to watch unfold, often reminiscent of a shaggy dog story while also proving to be reasonably thought out and planned with a series of well hidden Chekhov’s Guns and idle foreshadowing.

 

The tone of the film does, however, mean that while we certainly enjoy the action we never particularly engage with it on anything other than a visceral level. Much like in David Fincher’s The Game, each plot twist or set piece, such as a car crash or sickly hiding place, gives fuel for fun but no for any kind of emotional journey that is being undertaken. While Roger is a haughty force brought down to Earth by events out of his remit, it’s hard to really care that he’s being brutally squeezed since he’s unapologetically unlikable from the first moment, despite Aksel Hennie’s fine work.

This cheerfully amoral stance comes back to bite the film’s own rear when things start to become more personal, meaning that an emotionally charged showdown is mostly wasted on viewers by this stage more interested in knowing what spanner will be thrown in the works. It also doesn’t help that the main motivation for the deadly game of cat and mouse is barely exposed, revealed by a single line of dialogue at the end of the second act and never fully elaborated on. Throw these elements together and you have an endgame lacking in intensity.

That’s not to say that it doesn’t work, of course, and the final few gambits to tie everything together certainly please as the rest of the piece did. Though he’s wasted in terms of characterization by a modest running time and lack of real development, Nikolaj Coster Waldau is a strong presence as Klas, an authentically intimidating villain, and Syvonne Macody Lund puts in a subtle turn as wife Diana, bringing a bit more reality to proceedings tied up in the slapdash.

But ultimately, Headhunters is a film that aims, above all else, to entertain and engross as a thriller, and certainly does so throughout its brisk length. It’s simply a shame that a little more substance couldn’t have been mixed with the seductive style.

7/10