Easy Money 2: Mach sie fertig

'Easy Money' was a gripping, albeit conventional, story of an ordinary man dragged into a life of crime. This sequel, while also quite watchable, seems to have less purpose: we're reintroduced to the various characters we met in the first film, and watch their continuing, violent and disastrous efforts to make it rich by dealing in drugs. It's broadly believable if a little exaggerated in tempo: drug gangs wouldn't actually survive if their individual members generally perished at quite this rate, but unlike the first film, there's never any possibility of redemption or escape. The sentimental ending rings a little false given the disregard for human life shown by all participants.

This little crime genre film rolls along pretty nicely, because it mixes different types of criminals (the weak minded or the desperate) and underlines the strange role that Sweden plays for immigrants.

The one thing I always remember about Sweden is that all immigrants hate the Swedes. This story mixes in Arabs, Serbs and even a Mexican. So the crime communities just get on with the job - and indeed Sweden itself is just a back drop here.

I didn't see the first film, but the different characters obviously knew each other, but this is only relevant later on. All of them meet some type of nexus because of something going wrong, and have to resort to more crime. Gritty without being unpalatable, we see that crime rarely pays and there is, of course, no easy money.

Follows perfectly what happened in part 1 and again this isn't really a typical mobster flick. You must have seen part one to understand what is going on and again it's not all about the mob itself but it goes really deep into characters.

Even as there isn't any shooting going on still it all looks rather realistic. The slashing of ones throat really will get you, sigh, by your throat. So you can guess it, the effects are good.

If you like flicks about friendship and trust then this is a must see but if you think you will see the next Godfather, then you better skip this one.

Gore 1,5/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 2/5 Story 2,5/5 Comedy 0/5

It is not a crime drama that I recommend to the whole family on a sunday - or any day of the week - evening. Nothing hollywoodian in this crime film, it presents Eastern Europe DNA in the story, the plot, the violence is everywhere, every dialogue, shot. I watch it every five or six years and enjoy even more and more each time. The second movie of the trilogy is my favorite, though not necessarily the best of the three. It's a bit hard to find a lead character among the others, and don't expect to find any good guy fighting against villains scheme. So, if you crave for brutal and gritty crime films, this one from Europe is definitely for you.

This was one of the movies I was looking forward to see this year. (That said, I didn't have high expectations, I was only looking forward to see it)

Mostly I was curious of how they would build things up after a so well-written and trustworthy predecessor. I was a bit disappointed as the movie turned out to be like most movies in the genre. The movie is worth watching, but compared to Snabba Cash /Easy money it's not a worthy followup.

Easy Money was based on a book by a writer who has got direct contact with people involved in this kind of criminal activities, which made it trustworthy, down to earth but still exciting in a Swedish environment.

Easy Money 2 however, is loosely based on the trilogy of these books, which makes the movie lack of facts, reliability and makes it "just another movie" in the genre.

The actors do play their part in this movie, the screenplay is however not that good, which makes the overall experience worse.

Give it a shot, and see for yourself, but try to see it as just a movie that have the same characters as another movie, don't watch it if you're looking for a good sequel.