Noll tolerans

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 just discovered the Johan Falk series on netflix. Wow! The build up of the suspense is slow but certain. My heart beats faster and faster with every movie I see. The suspense is killing! I feel the anxiety of the charachters. Tonight I wil watch the final last movie. I hope the pilot movie 'The Third wave' will become available on netflix also.

Disappointing action movie about a police offer on the run. Concerns the dangers of testifying, but that aspect appears to be only an excuse for the story rather than a basis for it. We have seen it all before, particularly in US movies. If you are hungry for Swedish police action, Hassel - Förgörarna or one of the more recent Beck movies would be a better choice.

"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.