2.5 stars (out of 5)
The cast seems promising in this true story of a bunch of lucky but not very likeable not-quite-bad-guys, but there’s something odd about the direction by Swede Daniel Alfredson (of the two films that come after the original The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo) and the script by William Brookfield, which alters Peter R de Vries’ factual book to the point that you wonder what’s real and what’s just a movie.
A bunch of hard-working but hard-up mates in Amsterdam back in 1982 have failed as entrepreneurs and, after being rejected for a bank loan and then getting arrested, they consider what to do next. Car Van Hout (Jim Sturgess) is soon to be a father and needs money, while William Holleeder (Sam Worthington) burns to get back at his nasty Dad and Jan ‘Cat’ Boellard (Ryan Kwanten) is loyal and dumb enough to do anything to help his pals, and after they stage a successful bank robbery something even bigger is plotted. And what’s that? Well, as the title suggests, they plan to kidnap billionaire beer baron Freddy Heineken (Anthony Hopkins), and when they actually pull it off in an elaborate sequence that should be funny and suspenseful but isn’t really, they must go head to head with Freddy, who knows how to turn these young and foolish men against each other.
Hopkins is amusing enough here, puzzling and unsettling the guys with requests for ‘bang bang chicken’ and warning Car, in particular, not to trust his friends, but otherwise this doesn’t properly work, and while we’re supposed to find Sturgess and Worthington (not even trying to hide his accent) appealing, they’re distant and dopey. And while the ransom paid was the largest ever, the stakes never seem as high as they should be, and everything winds up just feeling a bit criminal.
I Wake Up Screening 