Jo Nesbo's Headhunters [DVD]

This is a wonderful thriller, sexy, articulate, violent and very funny at times, I.e. tractor get-a-way car/dog on spikes combo or twin cops who create the human airbag! in a crash. A real winner in that we see a man taken to his lowest self and return to a better more empathetic place. A redemption story with added bullets if you will. I love that the main character isn't slick or professional, just good at survival, and has something to truly live for.So, in essence 'Five foot six is enough'! in this case.

I am writing a review about a product that is yet to be released on DVD, after recently seeing said film.Through the opening credits, Roger Brown, our hero or antihero depending on your viewpoint, does a voiceover that explains the five rules of art theft. He then proceeds with a poised wit to demonstrate his manipulative gifts by bending a client to his will while extracting the information he needs to steal a valuable lithograph of Edvard Munch's The Brooch.Roger Brown seems to have everything, a trophy wife he fears losing and a girlfriend that is only on the scene for his apparent pleasure. Roger has a fancy home with all the mod cons and likes the finer things in life, along with this his wife who is very high maintenance and hence he lives way beyond his means. His job as a leading Headhunter, for recruitment agency hardly pays the bills, however, it does enable him to pick out `marks' and then rob them of valuable art work - the main source of his income!Roger is not particularly likable and his vicious world of international commerce is unattractive. However, a malevolent fate comes up the Kattegat in the form of Clas Greve (leading Danish actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) to pursue the complacent, antihero.Greve is a handsome, wealthy, charismatic son of a Dutch father and a Norwegian mother, apparently between jobs, having recently worked for a major military contractor. Roger seeks him out for Pathfinder, a conglomerate run from Oslo, and sees him as a target for theft as he secretly owns a valuable Rubens that apparently came into the family's hands by way of Nazi confiscation during the Second World War.What follows is `tour de force' of violence and dark humour. Where would be predator becomes prey, and nothing can be taken at face value. Add some James Bond like hair gel that can be tracked by GPS and you're onto a roller coaster ride!A funny if not slightly unbelievable film, a film that has given me a whole new respect for the `out house'. Well worth seeing.

Enjoyed the book so tried the film

Headhunters is a truly epic piece of work through it's brisk beginning to ludicrous middle on to the twisty, thrilling and sombre climax, it really is a film to cherish.This Scandinavian flamboyant thriller has one of the slickest production values i have seen for some time considering it's modest budget. The editing and camera-work is astonishing bringing to life even the most inanimate of objects..such as milk cartons!The plotting of Headhunters is not as intricate or head spinning as it leads you to suspect, in fact come the middle third the narrative s there feverishly to help move things along as does the patience and virtue of the film's non-showy cast. In particular our anti-hero Roger Brown(even the name has a sense of irony and caricature)is one of the most well written and compelling of antagonists for some while and his values and worth all come to the fore front for the audience to either sympathize or frustrate in equal measure it might seem. Any ethical questions that arise are swiftly answered by surprising and often hilarious results. If the film has a tone, theme, message to it(it doesn't need one) it is that ones self can be awoken by the most drastic and sensational of circumstances..you really will never know what is round the corner...like Roger Brown says sometimes you just got to gamble!Headhunters perhaps has one too many coincidences and 'would that really happen' moments perhaps but can be overlooked by the sheer audacity of it all. It will not be every ones cup of tea with its grisly scenes and laconic, parsimonious and dark humour but it has just enough convention to keep even the less attentive entertained.Headhunters is the type of film that does not come around too often but when it does we all need to sit up and take note before Hollywood remakes it. An absolute joy!

I enjoyed the book Headhunters by Jo Nesbo much more than this Norwegian author's other titles, which include the debauched (and a little tiresome) detective, Harry Hole. Headhunters is a more grounded story set in 'normal' Oslo business world rather than in the murky Norwegian criminal underworld. (Bearing in mind we are talking Nordic crime fiction which itself seldom has much to do with reality).So as a fan of the book, and having missed the film at cinema, I was looking forward to the release of the Headhunters DVD. I was also pleasantly surprised when I discovered it was a Norwegian production, rather than a Hollywood one, and one which stays fairly true to the book in its plot and characters.The vertically challenged Roger Brown is a high-flying Oslo headhunter, with a beautiful (and expensive) wife and a dangerous art habit. Just as he's beginning to run out of money he runs into a charming, tall businessman who he thinks will solve all his overspending problems.The film, just as the book is fast, furious, funny and completely unbelievable. But as Sunday night viewing, or as a hangover flick when you really don't want to tax your brain too much, it's perfect.