Kidnapping Mr Heineken a ransom film that almost pays its way
REVIEW: Kidnapping Mr Heineken is a middling thriller noticeably short on thrills as it re-stages a ransom scheme that enthralled Europe in the 1980s.
Leigh Paatsch
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Kidnapping Mr Heineken (M)
Director : Daniel Alfredson (The Girl Who Played with Fire)
Starring : Jim Sturgess, Anthony Hopkins, Sam Worthington, Ryan Kwanten.
Rating : **1/2
From small beer to one big, bad payday
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A middling thriller noticeably low on thrills, Kidnapping Mr Heineken is based on the true story of a Dutch ransom case that gripped the whole of Europe in the early 1980s.
Mega-rich alcohol tycoon Freddy Heineken (Anthony Hopkins) has been abducted from his Amsterdam home by a quintet of amateur desperadoes (led by Jim Sturgess and Australian stars Ryan Kwanten and Sam Worthington).
The price-tag for his return? Almost 50 million dollars in today’s money.
Will the lads get away with it? Best avoid any spoilers about how it all will end, and you just might get a kick from what is destined to go right and wrong with this dangerous scheme.
Hopkins is all class as always, but not all of his younger co-stars are up to the job.
It is not as if director Daniel Alfredson doesn’t give the bulk of his cast every opportunity to make a mark with their characters.
Actually, the film is far too generous in the screen time given over to the very predictable ructions in the ranks among the novice kidnappers.
Freddy Heineken is a far more interesting character, quickly sizing up he has a superior intellect to most of his captors, an assessment which could allow him to turn a life-or-death situation to his own advantage.
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Originally published as Kidnapping Mr Heineken a ransom film that almost pays its way
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