TinsHeadline Touches You

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Loui Blair It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Lachlan Coulson This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

kyliem11 Certainly not the 'best movie in the world', 5 out of 10 is probably too generous for this film.The true story of the kidnapping of Freddie Heineken by an 'inexperienced' gang of criminals, falls short in every department, even the great actor Anthony Hopkins cannot lift this any higher than average fair.The kidnappers are as unrealistic as they come, they spend most of the movie shouting at each other, with no charisma, they simply cannot be believed. It's a pity, a good movie could of been made of this subject but this certainly is not it.

Paul Evans Amsterdam 1982, the recession has hit hard. A group of friends and builders are down on their luck and are refused a bank loan. It's spokesman Cor van Hout proposes an outrageous plan, to kidnap local millionaire, the successful Freddy Heineken. The group test the waters by carrying out a bank heist, then carry out the daring dead, taking Heineken and his driver, holding them hostage, issuing a huge ransom demand. Cracks appear in their unit, and their family lives suffer too.Most of the positives surround Hopkins, he gives a masterclass in acting, his performance is understated and yet believable. Some of the best scenes in the movie revolve around his demands for Chinese food, books, Schubert etc, it's very random but enjoyable.One entertaining moment when the team realise they've left the ransom note in a photocopier nearby.Sadly the film didn't keep my attention, it's the kind of film you'll need a crossword or Sudoku puzzle. Unfortunately it is quite boring, the plot was a good one, I think possibly had some humour been added to it that may have helped, as a thriller it just doesn't work, there's no tension or drama caused, you never feel at any point that the gang truly mean business.As for the accents, some of them wanted to go Dutch, some of them didn't, it felt inconsistent.It could have been so good. I've only seen a trailer for the Dutch production, but that seems to have the atmosphere that was needed, this production is sadly a week old unwanted glass of Heineken, FLAT.5/10

leonblackwood Review: I really wasn't a big fan of this film because it's really slow and the storyline isn't that great. Its about 4 childhood friends who are in some financial problems so they come up with a bright idea, to kidnap Freddy Heineken for a huge ransom. I know that this ridiculous idea was plotted in 1988 so there wasn't security cameras everywhere like there is today but I really don't know how they thought that they were going to get away with such a huge heist. They seemed to be making it up as they went along and they didn't figure out a what they were going to do with the money until the end, which seemed a bit strange. For entertainment, it wasn't that great because the 4 childhood buddies seemed to be bickering most of the time and the money didn't really bring any joy to there life's. You didn't get to see what happened from the investigating point of view so the police kept on popping up out of the blue, without much explanation. Anthony Hopkins played his part well, as usual, but the 4 main characters didn't really bring intensity to such a difficult situation, which is mostly due to the writing. I'm sure that the money that they robbed to fund the kidnapping, could have cleared up some of there debt so I didn't have much sympathy for the dumb criminals. At the end of the day, it was blatant greed that pushed this guys on the run so they got everything that they deserved. Average!Round-Up: Sam Worthington has made some weird films since his big role in Avatar! He's had roles in Clash & Wraith of the Titans, which wasn't that bad but Termination Salvation wasn't that great. Since then, he's had some small projects like Sabotage, which was pretty average and Man on a Ledge which was also average but with some more Avatar movies in the pipeline, he really is set up for life. His acting style isn't the greatest but he has made some decent choices so at 38 years old, he really hasn't done too bad since making his debut in Hart's War in 2002. Anyway, the director of this movie Daniel Alfredson, also directed the Girl Who Played With Fire and the Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest, which were no way as good as the original and he has made quite a few TV series so he hasn't made that many movies for the big screen. He could have done a better job with this film, especially with Hopkins commitment to the project but the concept was interesting, as it's based on true events.I recommend this movie to people who are into their crime/drama movies about a group of childhood friends who come up with a plan to kidnap Mr. Heineken for a hefty ransom, to help them out of there financial difficulties. 4/10

quincytheodore How a crime drama with such good cast can be so dull is borderline a crime. The actors are good, but the characters they play have the personality of barren unsympathetic schmucks. The screenplay and conversation are dry, primarily dabbling in curses and complaints for nearly the entire movie. While there are clearly a couple of good moments by the actors, they are too few to sustain interest for the rest of boring banters.Kidnapping Mr. Heineken is exactly what it advertises, the story of five men who are down on their luck and decide to snatch a billionaire in hope for monetary gain. It's amazing that none of these five character is even close to being relatable. The movie tries to depicts individuals who are pushed to do illegal things, yet they are all manipulative, aggressive and severely lacking empathy.At latter half they are even interchangeable since everyone has a knack for whining, in exception of Sam Worthington's character who surprises audience with poor and crazy decisions. Probably the best decision the movie did was to put Anthony Hopkins as Heineken in a box and let him do a few monologues. Still, there is no tangible connection between Heineken and the kidnappers, there's not even connection between the kidnappers. When the movie tries to pull friendship theme, it only makes things more awkward.For action crime, one would expect an intelligent plot, perhaps major twists and thought out plans. There's a barely any level of sophistication here as five of them partially wing it and hope for the best. In fact, most of the times they are just fooling around, laughing annoyingly and verbally abusing each other.The film offers the shallow sense of helplessness and uneasiness as audience watch five aversive men threatening an old man for money and bicker with each other.