Cert 15
94 mins
BBFC advice: Contains strong language
I was just about to write that this British/Dutch 'thriller'would have been so much better in the hands of a Scandinavian or French director and then I read that Daniel Alfredson is Swedish.
Therefore, it's a pity he didn't take some tips from the likes of Susanne Bier who would have made Kidnapping Freddy Heineken so much more tense and exciting.
As it is, the material is there in terms of an explosive true story and the cast boasts the quality of Anthony Hopkins, Jim Sturgess and Sam Worthington but the movie is a limp as a plucked lettuce left out in the rain.
Even now, a couple of days after watching it on Virgin Movies On Demand, I am trying to work out how this picture failed to ignite.
Set in the early 1980s, the premise is promising. A group of failed businessmen alight upon an outrageous plan to kidnap one of the richest men in Holland.
Sturgess's character leads the crew, trying to keep them, particularly the trigger-happy Worthington, on message.
Thus, they manage to seize Heineken (Hopkins) and his driver (David Dencik).
But the kidnapping is too easy and the ensuing 'drama' fails to grab, despite Hopkins reprising elements of Hannibal Lecter during his performance as the captured beer magnate.
Hopkins is easily the best feature of Kidnapping Freddy Heineken. But even he cannot save it alone.
It is a fact that true stories are not always the easiest to portray on the big screen because the source material is more limiting than while working with fiction.
But here there is enough in the original tale to entice an audience.
To be fair, there are a couple of decent chase scenes but during the interaction between the kidnappers, when sparks should have flow, the movie falls flat.
Screenwriter William Brookfield: “The material really appealed to me, because it is very hard to find a true- life story that fits into the demanding parameters of dramatic thriller. This one did. It had tragedy. It had the human heart conflicting with itself. It had the overreaching.”
Laughs: none
Jumps: none
Vomit: none
Nudity: none
Overall rating: 4/10