Noll tolerans

"Noll Tolerans" is a pretty good movie even though the pacing is relatively slow for an action movie.

Most scenes in the film are quite good, but the could also have been better. It's all in the details. For example: as mentionened above, the pacing could have been faster; the dialogue could have been more interesting, the script could have been more inventive e.t.c.

The actors are very good overall, especially Jakob Eklund and Marie Richardson (a couple in real life, I think !?!?).

Anyway, this movie is pretty good and it's worth a viewing.

Marketed as one of Sweden´s first real action movies ever, "Noll Tolerans" therefore has a lot to live up to. But in my eyes, this is more of a regular cop-thriller than a heavy action movie.

One problem is that "Noll Tolerans" showcases the biggest action scene five minutes into the movie, and every other action scene later on feels like a step down. The ending feels extremely tired. But you can´t deny that this is still very competent work.

The movie begins shortly before Christmas eve, when policeman Johan Falk (Jacob Eklund) runs into foul business on the street. After a frenetic car chase he is confronted with two jewel-thieves, and after a violent shootout one of the robbers gets killed. Thanks to witnesses the other criminal is later arrested. But he manages to threaten the witnesses to silence, and after a while the police force is after Johan Falk instead. Now he must prove he is innocent.

"Noll Tolerans" is an ambitious movie, but you can´t deny that in the States this would have been a straight to video-release. The story is not interesting enough and the pace is awfully slow. Action fans can´t be too happy with this one, but it did get a sequel called "Livvakterna" two years later.

2/5

I'm quite surprised since "Noll tolerans" is a Swedish thriller that actually works. It's far from perfect, but the basic premise (would *you* dare to testify?) is very interesting and the three leads (Jacob Eklund, Marie Richardson and Peter Andersson) are all great. The score is also very effective. The film is about fifteen minutes too long and I think the story could have needed some shortening, but it's still a good film. (6/10)

"Noll Tolerans" may be well plotted, skillfully directed, and impressively cast it still bears a major problem indicated by its title. In making sure that its audience will never be in doubt about who´s good and who´s evil in this movie, the hero-policeman is pure as snow and the villain is downright hissable. Having that established the movie ridicules legal process, denounces legal representation (the villain´s lawyer is even more detestable than the villain himself is) and argues that Sweden´s society would be a safer place to be if it would just allow the police to do their job.

That´s not only a questionable approach to the state of law, it would have been a much better movie in case its makers would have dared to paint it gray and not just black and white. In comparison "Dirty Harry" was a more ambiguous enterprise, with ambiguity being one of the last things springing in mind when thinking about Mr. Callahan.

When walking out of the cinema it was with a great smile. This is an amazingly well produced movie. All characters were starred brilliantly. The main cast; Jacob Eklund, Peter Andersson and Marie Rickardson were very trustworthy.

It's a great move to leave Stockholm and show Sweden that the western parts of the country also is capable of producing high quality movies.