Exit

Exit starts of interesting with a dramatic happening at a company. This is kept as a secret for seven years. The film soon evolves into a fast paced thriller. As always is Mads Mikkelsen brilliant, here as a business man which find himself in a severe predicament.

The film has an interesting premise, and we are immediately drawn into the story, which is well explained, even being difficult business stuff. I haven't been very impressed with Swedish films from the last decade, except for making cheap but decent and well played crime thrillers. This however surprises in a pleasant way. It's engaging, surprising and realistically told about dirty business. The film gives me associations to both the Millennium trilogy and the sublime Norwegian Headhunters.

Surprisingly enough, as far as I can find, Peter Lindmark haven't directed a film since this one, which was made in 2006. How can it be he hasn't been called upon to do more directorial work for the last 7 years? I really think this is atrocious, as he deserves to do more work like this. There must be something seriously wrong with the Swedish film industry when this can happen.

I am not a big fan of Swedish films at all, but this one had Mads Mikkelsen in the leading role. He is the greatest danish star in many years (Bond 21, King Arthur)and just his presence should make you watch this movie.

The common problem with Scandinavian films is the budget, which cant match Hollywood at all, so the story has to be great. This story takes place in the financial world, and Mads Mikkelsen plays a businessman which is head suspect in the murder of his mentor, because he can gain a lot of money on his death. He is in-prisoned, but then a mysterious voice calls and starts making demands, and are they not held his wife and child are going to be killed. So we follow his fight for the survival of his family and pursuit to clear his name.

This might sound like an average movie, but the ends makes this a movie to seen and acknowledged. A great movie, great acting and a great story. Absoluttely worth a 1,5 hour!

Not convinced if I like this one or not.

Mads Mikkelsen's performance is definitely a part I enjoyed, he is excellent throughout. The rest of the onscreen talent, e.g. Kirsti Torhaug and Alexander Skarsgård, are good too - bar one. That one member of the onscreen talent that didn't enthrall me is Samuel Fröler - lousy. No hate on the actor necessarily, but he just didn't fit the role in my opinion... needed someone more menacing.

So, Fröler is one negative... but not the only one. The way the plot unfolds irritated me at a few moments, most notably at the point involving Henrik Noél Olesen's Preben; to avoid spoiling, all I can say is: as if! It's not perfectly written, at all... even dumb in parts. I can always ignore it once or twice, but I found myself disliking a few moments every now and then.

Rating-wise, it's 6/10 or 7/10 - the former feels harsh, the latter generous. I think Mikkelsen's showing just about tilts it into the higher score. I likely won't revisit, though I guess you could do far worse. 'Exit' is an OK watch.

Just as Thomas (Mads Mikkelsen) is about to step into the limelight of corporate leadership, a ghost from his past comes back to haunt him. Before he knows what's happening, people around him drop like flies and he finds himself at the hand of mysterious blackmailers. You can tell this movie is based on a novel (by Jesper Kärrbrink), and in a bad way. There are just too many loose ends for a feature-length exposition. Behind layers of deception and betrayal, there is nothing but more layers yet. I found it hard even to keep track of the players, both individual and institutional, as Thomas is caught in a circle of rising stakes and increasing violence. Go see it if you liked "The Firm" or Michael Almereyda's "Hamlet".

Scandinavian crime thrillers is a known sign of quality, recent years have Danish films excelled Swedish ones, but in many of them, actors from both countries are used. Exit is also a fine example of that cooperation where Mads Mikkelsen - one of the most versatile contemporary Danish actors - was included. Again, he gives a great performance, nicely complemented by fine Swedes such as Alexander Skarsgård and Ulf Friberg, for example. Moreover, Mikkelsen is fluent in Swedish (rare among Danes), thus he is able to communicate in both Danish and decent Swedish throughout the film, emanating from the nature of his character.

The plot is okay, even good, but includes some questionable scenes and unexplained events, thus the tag "mystery" is in the right place... Twists and chases, however, were catchy to follow, and the lack of some logic began to "haunt" when the credits appeared, not during watching. All in all, Exit is recommended to all those fond of Scandinavian crime films with pacing faster than average.