Shorta

Its more a Hollywood style movie than a euro thriller, but the themes of racism, corruption, and police violence are thrown in there for contemporary social conscience reasons at least. Not sure which side the production is on, as the ending leans towards a survival of the fittest theme. The police are certainly not portrayed as being heroic in anyway through out the film though. Although others did not seem to like the ending, I have to give it credit for avoiding cliches. Its definately not a pro police film, but does attempt to show, both, the sides of the police, and the impoverished exploited ethnic minorities in Denmarks ghettos. Its not over sentimental and there are some surprising character arcs. There are better movies out there, but I quite enjoyed it. Despite the heavy thematic elements at play, I feel this movie was made for entertainment.

Danish, mostly balanced, POV on police excessive force vs. Self protection. You're in a job that pays really well w/quick retirement, however each day you go to work not knowing if you'll be alive that evening. You see the worst of humanity in a continuous stream of encounters; you're trained to ignore yet you're still human; perhaps, at some point, we all will collapse under those stressors. Sometimes you encounter someone who's fifty pounds heavier; five inches taller; and verbally assertive while being physically non-compliant; they know what buttons to push & relish that taunting. They have little to lose; little education; no or poor job prospects; just hanging out; maybe some petty crimes to get by. You've seen this countless times on countless days & like all humans we want our jobs to be easy & safe so we react back in kind. Eventually, statistically, an accident (perhaps deadly) is bound to occur. Thus a storyline told around the world.

Joint writers and directors Hviid and Olholm gave us a beautifully shot film with excellent cinematography, but fell short in the screenplay, especially the ending that made it seem they ran out of money.

The conceptual story, although not original, was great, especially their parable about walking a mile in someone else's shoes. But the screenplay felt dragged out with too many unnecessary scenes, giving the 108 min runtime a feel of too much filler for the little substance it gave us. This film should've been cut down to about 80-90 mins max.

What really bothered me was the lack of some type of ending. I get that many thrillers will leave the ending up to the viewers imagination, but for the investment made following the characters around for 108 mins, and with more than one conflict needing some type of resolution, chopping the ending to, well, not really any ending, made it feel like they ran out of time and or/money. For that, I automatically took off one star.

The casting and performances were great, and the score was on point. So overall it was a decent one time watch, and I'd recommend it if you're a fan of this genre, but I wouldn't see it again. It's certainly no 10/10, but also not worthy of all the 1's from the wannabe critics - it was shot and directed too well, and that alone deserves at least a 4. So it's a 7/10 from me, but would've been at least an 8 if the writing was tighter with... a proper ending.

Or even BAC NORD, if you prefer...It is a very modern crime drama, which is really related to the actual events that happen in France and also I guess in many other countries. So, it is normal to find this kind of topic on screen. This one is obviously careful not to be under the influence of the US way of story telling, and directing. It is efficient, made in a realistic way, but the good cop bad cop scheme is the main weak point of this film about the ghetto genre, after LES MISERABLES, BAC NORD, SNABBA CASH. Though this latest focused mainly on the punks and not the police after them. The only link with John Carpenter's film is the cops alone against an army of hoodlums. But it was in another time, forty five years ago. Characters are shown in such a way that you know this is not a propaganda film for or against police, even police brutality, or against the ghetto population, including the hoodlums. The ending is unfortunately a failure and could have been better. The only good thing is that was not predictable.

If you are to watch one police movie all year, then this is it. I won't spoil too much, but you are sucked in from the first five minutes and left breathless for the rest of movie. Absolute must see. Especially, if you're Danish of course.