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Headhunters (film)
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Wikipedia article
{{Infobox film
| name = Headhunters
| image = Headhunter poster.jpg
| image_size =
| border =
| alt =
| caption = Norwegian pre-release theatrical poster
| director = Morten Tyldum
| producer = Marianne Gray
Asle Vatn
| screenplay =
Ulf Ryberg
| based_on =
| starring =
| music = Trond Bjerknes
Jeppe Kaas
| cinematography = John Andreas Andersen
| editing = Vidar Flataukan
| studio = Friland Film
Yellow Bird
| distributor = Nordisk Film
| released =
| runtime = 100 minutes
| country = Norway
| language = Norwegian
Danish
| budget = USD 3,636,887
| gross = USD 15,391,296
}}
'Headhunters' is a 2011 Norwegian action thriller film based on the 2008 novel of the same name by Jo Nesb. The film was directed by Morten Tyldum and stars Aksel Hennie, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Synnve Macody Lund. Hennie portrays the successful but insecure corporate recruiter Roger Brown who lives a double life as an art thief to fund his lavish lifestyle. He finds out that one of his job prospects is in possession of a valuable painting and sets out to steal it.
Released in Norway on 26 August 2011, 'Headhunters' was a box office success, receiving positive reviews, and was nominated for multiple awards, including four Amanda Awards and a BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
It is the highest-grossing Norwegian film in history.
Plot
Roger Brown (Aksel Hennie), Norway's most successful headhunter, supports his lavish lifestyle by stealing paintings from his clients; his partner, Ove (Eivind Sander), works at a surveillance company and deactivates security at the victims' homes, allowing Roger to swap the art for a counterfeit. Asked to dinner by his mistress, Lotte (Julie lgaard), Roger declines and ends their relationship. Roger's wife and art gallery owner, Diana (Synnve Macody Lund), introduces him to Clas Greve (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), a former executive for GPS tech company HOTE, who wants to work for Pathfinder, for whom Roger is recruiting. Diana reveals that Clas has asked her to authenticate a lost Rubens painting he inherited that is believed to be worth millions.
Roger takes Clas to lunch to discuss the job, and soon learns Clas used to be a member of Pathfinder, a special forces unit that specialized in tracking people and winner of the European Military pentathlon. Despite his misgivings, Roger meets with Ove to work out details on stealing the painting. Roger manages to steal it from Clas' home, but he discovers Diana's cellphone beside Clas' bed. Later, after a seemingly successful meeting with Pathfinder executives, an upset Roger flippantly informs Clas that the company may be looking for someone else to fill the position.
The next morning, Roger finds Ove in his (Roger's) car, apparently dead from a poison syringe embedded in the car seat; when Roger dumps Ove in a lake, the water revives him, as he did not get a full dose of the poison. Driving Ove to his cabin, Roger puts him in bed and ignores his demands for medical attention, as he does not want the police involved. Ove pulls a gun in response, causing a shoot-out where Roger accidentally kills Ove. Finding Clas has followed him to Ove's cabin, Roger narrowly escapes after a scuffle. Trying to lose Clas' tracking devices, Roger switches his car for Ove's and throws his clothes in a lake, changing into Ove's spare uniform and fleeing to a farm where Ove used to stay. Clas tails Roger to the farm with his dog and murders the farmer, but Roger evades them. Trying to escape on a tractor, Roger is attacked by Clas' dog, which he kills by impaling it on the tractor's forks. Roger, believing Clas is chasing him, drives erratically and falls from the tractor, only to find his pursuer is a stranger wanting to help.
Waking in a hospital, Roger learns the police think he is Ove, and arrest him for the farmer's murder when he tries to escape. Driving to the station, the officers pull over to block a truck reported stolen. Remembering that Clas developed a nanotechnology gel that is very difficult to remove, Roger realizes that he is being tracked through GPS gel rubbed in his hair by Diana, and Clas is driving the truck; despite Roger's protests, the officers ignore him, allowing Clas to ram the car off a cliff. Playing dead until Clas leaves the scene, Roger shaves his head and hides his hair on a body, then swaps clothes with a detective's disfigured body to fake his death.
Roger turns to Lotte for help, only to discover she has always worked for Clas, who is still a HOTE executive and trying to steal Pathfinder's secrets. Lotte admits that she put the GPS gel in Roger's hair, and that she suggested dinner so she could introduce him to Clas; since Roger ended their affair, Clas used a counterfeit Rubens painting to meet Roger through Diana. When Roger lets his guard down, Lotte attacks him with a knife, causing Roger to shoot and kill her in self-defense. Roger returns home and admits everything to Diana, who apologizes for her affair with Clas. The next morning, Roger goes to a morgue to retrieve his cut hair, while Diana contacts Clas to resume their affair.
While cleaning Ove's cabin of evidence, Roger is confronted by Clas, who was able to track the location transmitters in the cut hair. Clas gloats that Diana has returned to him, and tries to shoot Roger but fails. Roger fatally wounds Clas with Ove's gun, explaining that Diana only resumed their affair so she could load Clas' gun with blanks. Ove's home security records Clas involved in a shootout, though Roger stays in a camera blind spot near Ove. The footage, combined with evidence doctored by Roger, suggests Ove and Clas were art thieves who killed the farmer, Lotte, then finally each other after a dispute, and the police ignore the minor inconsistencies because they want the case closed. Later, Roger and a visibly pregnant Diana are shown selling their house, and Roger returns to work, giving the Pathfinder job to the client he rejected and robbed at the beginning of the film.
Cast
* Aksel Hennie as Roger Brown
* Synnve Macody Lund as Diana Brown
* Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Clas Greve
* as Ove Kjikerud
* Julie lgaard as Lotte Madsen
* Reidar Srensen as Brede Sperre
* as Jeremias Lander
* Mads Mogeland as Joar Sunded
* Baard Owe as Sindre Aa
* Torgrim Mellum Stene as Atle Nerum
* as Ferdinand
* Nils Jrgen Kaalstad as Stig
* as Brugd
* Gunnar Skramstad Johnsen as Eskild Monsen
* Lars Skramstad Johnsen as Endride Monsen
Production and remake
The Swedish production company Yellow Bird acquired the film rights to Jo Nesb's 2008 novel 'Headhunters' in 2009. It was the first of Nesb's novels to be turned into a film. The film was shot in and around Oslo on a budget of 30 million NOK over 40 days. The film lacked aerial shots that they needed but ran out of money and instead archive footage scenes from the Swedish film The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was used and was digitally altered to change the type of car.
A Hollywood remake of 'Headhunters' was planned, with the British journalist and screenwriter Sacha Gervasi writing the screenplay. The rights to the English-language remake were sold to the American film studio Summit Entertainment in 2011 while the Norwegian film was still in production.
Music
Tracks used in the movie include:[http://www.soundtrack.net/movie/headhunters Headhunters] Soundtrack (and confirmed with the soundtrack listing on the DVD)
* "Weathervane" by Weathervane (writing name of Jimmy Gnecco and Paul Waaktaar-Savoy) - over the end credits
* "Sleep Ferrari" published by Universal Publishing Production Music (no artist given)
* "Come by Goran Obad and Henrik Skarm
Release
The film was released in Norway on 26 August 2011 and was seen by 104,000 Norwegian moviegoers in its opening weekend, making it the second best opening weekend in Norwegian history, after 'Max Manus'. It was by far the most-watched domestic film of the year, with 557,086 tickets sold at the cinema, and the second most-watched including foreign films, only beaten by 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2'.
Reception
'Headhunters' received very positive reviews. Rotten Tomatoes reports a "Certified Fresh" approval rating of 93% based on 98 reviews, with an average rating of 7.63 out of 10. The consensus reads: "Grisly, twisty, and darkly comic, 'Headhunters' is an exhilaratingly oddball take on familiar thriller elements". On Metacritic, the film has a score of 72 out of 100, indicating "generally favorable reviews", based on reviews from 26 critics.
Roger Ebert of the 'Chicago Sun-Times' gave the film three and a half stars out of four, praising the film as "an argument for the kinds of thrillers I miss. It entertains with story elements, in which the scares evolve from human behavior. Unlike too many thrillers that depend on stunts, special effects and the Queasy cam, this one devises a plot where it matters what happens. It's not all kinetic energy".
In Norway the film got favourable reviews; with most reviewers following the dice throw system where 1 is worst and 6 is best, the vast majority gave 5 points. The dice throw of 5 was issued by 'VG',"Frenetisk forundringspakke", 'VG' 25 August 2011 'Dagbladet',"Blodig moro", 'Dagbladet' 24 August 2011 'Aftenposten',"Thriller i toppklasse", 'Aftenposten' 24 August 2011 'Bergens Tidende',"Fiks og veldreid", 'Bergens Tidende' 24 August 2011 'Bergensavisen',"Hstens publikumsjeger", 'Bergensavisen' 24 August 2011 'Stavanger Aftenblad',"Intens thriller vipper nesten over", 'Stavanger Aftenblad' 24 August 2011 'Dagsavisen',"Kupper filmhsten", 'Dagsavisen' 24 August 2011 'Fdrelandsvennen',"Smart, effektiv og hyperspennende!", 'Fdrelandsvennen' 25 August 2011 'Haugesunds Avis'"Thriller med driv", 'Haugesunds Avis' 24 August 2011 and 'Hamar Arbeiderblad'."Kraftpakke", 'Hamar Arbeiderblad' 25 August 2011 The dice throw of 4 was issued by 'Adresseavisen'."Best fr blodbadet", 'Adresseavisen' 24 August 2011 and 'Klassekampen'."Hals over hode", 'Klassekampen' 24 August 2011 'Dagens Nringsliv', called the film "highly acceptable" genre action with a sympathetic lead character."Frekke tnner", 'Dagens Nringsliv' 27 August 2011
Accolades
'Headhunters' was the first Norwegian film to be nominated for a BAFTA (in the category Best Film Not in the English Language). The film was also nominated for four Amanda Awards: People's Amanda (audience vote), Best Actor, Best Direction and Best Visual Effects, but not for Best Norwegian Film, leading to criticism of the Amanda jury.
See also
* Scandinavian noir
References
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