Headhunters

• Allan Hunter
• 19 March 2012

Jo Nesbo adaptation is breathlessly, outrageously entertaining

(15) 101min

The twisty, tangled, page-turning bestsellers of Norwegian author Jo Nesbo seem tailor-made for the screen. The narratives move with all the momentum of a runaway train and there are enough flawed individuals and crumbling moral certainties to provide substance as well as style.

Roger Brown (Aksel Hennie) is a suave, successful headhunter living way beyond his means and lavishing gifts on his trophy wife. He is also something of a Raffles-like gentleman thief supplementing his income by stealing rare artworks from his clients. Clas Greve (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and his original Rubens seem like the perfect target, except Clas is prepared to fight back. The two men are soon engaged in a fight to the death that falls somewhere between a Road Runner cartoon and a Coen brothers thriller.

Director Morten Tyldum leaves little time to doubt the spider’s web intricacy of the plotting and both of the lead actors are a perfect fit for their parts in this tit for tat feud. It may verge on the unhinged at times but Headhunters is breathlessly, outrageously entertaining.

General release from Fri 6 April.