Headhunters
Directed by Mortem Tyldum
Written by Lars Gudmestad and Ulf Ryberg
with Aksel Hennie, Synnøve Macody Lund, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
2011
Following the proud tradition of the genre thriller, Headhunters packs in enough entertainment at a sufficient clip to stop you noticing how much the story hinges on a hilarious set of coincidences. Roger Brown (Aksel Hennie) is a corporate headhunter who moonlights as an art thief in order to maintain a lifestyle that overstretches even his presumably high income. When he makes contact with a high-flying CEO (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) who claims to have a lost Rubens in his grandmother’s apartment, he seizes the chance to do away with his financial troubles for life. There is more going on than he realises, however, and through a sudden turn of events he finds that he is the one being headhunted, albeit in a more traditional sense than what he is used to.
On a fundamental level, the story is about male feelings of inadequacy and the lengths men go to in order to compensate. Just as the title refers to both corporate headhunting and actual hunting, it also nods towards a perpetual competition to remain on top of the pile and as desirable as possible. The notion of reputation is used to catalyse more than one nice little plot twist and to wrap up the ending in a way that may seem contrived to some, but which made me smile. As Roger points out in relation to a Julian Opie piece on his office wall: it’s the artist’s reputation that makes a simple line-and-colour drawing so valuable, nothing more. That idea of a high cost, eggshell-thin veneer over an empty centre can be seen as setting the tone for Roger’s entire existence. He’s insecure about his height and appearance, and his lavish, debit-ridden lifestyle stems from what he feels he needs to show in order to keep his towering blonde wife (Synnøve Macody Lund) by his side. The introduction of a cunning, ex-military dreamboat not only provides an opportunity to steal his painting but, as the film progresses, turns into a fight to prove himself against an exaggeratedly macho adversary.
Roger is a shallow, conniving prick. But he’s still the hero, and one of the most enjoyable aspects of the film is the sheer amount of crap (literally, at one point) it is necessary to put him through in order to get the audience on his side. The plot has him broken down and humiliated, in order for him to build himself up again as something more recognisably human and (self)respectable. Apart from one moment when he shoots a woman with his penis – symbolically, anyway – the macho-deconstructive element is well played and, along with the satire on the corporate world and a surprisingly sweet bit of character development, adds a bit of wit to what is otherwise just a fun thriller. The violence is graphic and imaginative, but never feels gratuitous, and the varied set pieces are given brief but efficient support so that nothing seems too silly. The fact that Roger is an art thief, for example, ultimately plays no massive part in events, but provides a background that puts him believably through any number of scrapes simply because you accord him a certain resourcefulness. There are one or two plot holes so cavernous they made me wonder if I’d missed a crucial subtitle while making notes, but they don’t ruin the film by any means, and although the subtext is hardly transcendental Headhunters is funnier, smarter, and more exciting than the vast majority of action thrillers.
Tom
0 comments:
Post a Comment