CRIME; 1hr 35min
STARRING: Jim Sturgess, Sam Worthington, Anthony Hopkins, Ryan Kwanten, Mark van Eeuwen, Thomas Cocquerel
Headliner: Hopkins
The $50 million ransom paid in 1983 for the release of kidnapped Dutch beer baron Alfred Henry “Freddy” Heineken (Hopkins) was the whoppingest whopper in worldwide history. Incredibly, the snatch of Heineken and his driver — propulsively re-created in The Girl Who Played with Fire director Daniel Alfredson’s chapter of accidents — was the brainwave of five buddies in the market for some fast bucks.
From the sketchy view we’re given, Cor Van Hout (Sturgess), Willem Holleeder (Worthington), Jan Boellaard (Kwanten), Frans Meijer (van Eeuwen) and Martin Erkamps (Cocquerel) are more edgy amateurs than bad eggs. Their quarry keeps a cooler head, requesting books and Bang Bang chicken from his jailers, who, with the weeks ticking by and no response to their ransom demand forthcoming, are fraying at every seam.
And therein lies the cautionary lesson. “There are two ways a man can be rich in this world,” Freddy notes with hindsight’s wisdom. “He can have a lot of money or he can have a lot of friends. But he cannot have both.” Even before they briefly seize the cash, the men have become its victims.
