Headhunters

2011 | 100 minutes | Rated R

A corporate job recruiter who doubles as an art thief faces a series of life-or-death situations after a rival criminal frames him for murder. This Hollywood-style thriller from Norway doesn't lack for suspense or gross-out humor (the better sequences manage to deliver both), but it's so mean-spirited you might have a hard time appreciating any genre pleasures. The characterizations of women are downright chauvinistic, and the scenes of graphic violence are drawn out to the point where they overwhelm the story. Not having read the international best seller on which this is based, I don't know if the movie's faults should be blamed on novelist Jo Nesbo, screenwriters Lars Gudmestad and Ulf Ryberg, or director Morten Tyldum; regardless, they leave a sour aftertaste. In Norwegian with subtitles. By Ben Sachs

Director: Morten Tyldum
Producer: Asle Vatn and Marianne Gray
Cast: Aksel Hennie, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Synnøve Lund, Julie Olgaard, Eivind Sander, Daniel Bratterud, Baard Owe, Joachim Rafaelsen, Kyrre Sydness and Nils Kaalstad