Headhunters Review

My only prior knowledge of Jo Nesbø was that posters for his books seemed to crop up on the underground with alarming rapidity a couple of years ago when The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series’ popularity peaked. Clearly, I thought with cynicism, some wily publisher is cashing in on the current interest in Scandinavian literature. Of course, that meant it was only a matter of time before Nesbø’s work started appearing on screen too. I hadn’t learnt any more about Nesbø between noticing those posters and prior to the screening ofHeadhunters (until writing this review, I had assumed Nesbø was a woman), other than that there is, apparently Nesbø-themed pornography urbanely entitled ‘Jo Lesbo’.

So I had little to no expectations going into Headhunters. The story follows an executive recruiter (or ‘headhunter’), the decidedly un-Norwegian sounding Roger Brown, a man with a Napoleon complex  who has blagged his way into a comfortable life, a big house and the arms of a woman he considers out of his league, his wife Diana (Lund). Unfortunately, in order to make ends meet, Brown has found it necessary to earn additional income through less than legal means and, along with his somewhat inane partner in crime Ove (Sander), has become an art thief. When he discovers that his latest mark, the impressive Clas Greve (Coster-Waldau), is apparently sleeping with Diana, Brown sabotages Greve’s chances of landing a top position at a GPS company. However, Greve is a former soldier and begins seeking revenge on Brown, starting a deadly game of cat and mouse. The Gordian plot only gets knottier from hereon in.

Headhunters was an absolute treat. Its black as night humour, clever plotting, strong characterisation and bouts of extreme violence were straight up my street. Headhunters is essentially a Scandinavian Coen Brothers film (think Fargo, Blood Simpleand Burn After Reading), which is, of course, a very good thing. Whilst the casual violence and sense of meaninglessness of the Coens are present in Headhunters, there’s also a level of sincerity and pathos underneath the ridiculousness of the events film.

Much of the film’s success is due to Aksel Hennie’s outstanding central performance as Brown. Hennie’s character has a bizarre mixture of resourcefulness and stupidity about him and scuttles about the film, looking like the strange lovechild of Steve Buscemi and Alan B’stard. The role requires an awful lot of him (not least a fantastic Trainspotting/Slumdog Millionaire WC moment) and Hennie does more than justice to it. Brown is something of a creep and frequently unpleasant; it’s indicative of Hennie’s quality that we root for his character nonetheless.

Arguably, the intricacies of the plot do not quite hang together – it may require multiple viewings to make sure, but other than that, Headhunters is an exceptionally good film. Cast any lingering associations with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo straight out of your mind, if indeed you had any. This is a completely different kettle of fish. Surprising, exciting and frequently hilarious, Headhunters is riotously entertaining and definitely worth seeking out. It also contains the best dog death in any film this year so far.