Olsen Bandens sidste stik

This is not how I wanted to remember the Olsen criminal gang: Kjeld is confined to a wheelchair, Benny has gone large (fat) as a house, and Egon is in a care home for the elderly and senile. This movie shouldn't have been made for the same reason I don't like to go to funerals, because I want to remember people how they were when they were alive. How they thought this image of the Olsen gang as old and crippled would revitalize the danish institution in movie history that is the Olsen gang, is beyond me.

A horrible experiment. They tried to recreate the societal world of the danish 60's and 70's and failed 100%. I would not recommend this movie to anyone not even fans of the series as this just adds insult to the legacy of the Olsen Gang. It is embarrassing that they did not have the guts to cancel this movie during the production. It is very clear that many of the actors were to old to act. Everything from voices and body language to effects and camera angles are off. There is nothing of the original atmosphere in this abomination of a film.

Hopefully I won't have to see it again in my life.

The 14th and last film in the popular "Olsen-Banden" film series is a must see for fans of the series, but this film survives mostly on the fond memories of the earlier films. It´s 17 years since gang leader Egon Olsen was committed to a facility for the criminally insane. Here, he is brought on a Danish TV talk show to comment on the plight of elderly citizens. He is instantly recognized by fellow gang members, Kjeld and Benny, and the ol´ gang teams up for one final heist when Egon manages to escape. Sadly the gang must admit that they are not as fit as they used to be, but still manage to get into trouble. The cast is full of familiar faces from the series, and Axel Strøbye steals the show as "Jensen", and it´s nice to see Jes Holtsø (criminally underused as "Børge") but Kirsten Walther is sorely missed as "Yvonne".

Sadly, Poul Bundgaard´s real life health problems are all too apparent here, and he died during production, with half his scenes left to be filmed, leading to script changes, CGI magic and an unrecognizable Tommy Kenter standing in for the exterior shots. Tragically, director Tom Hedegaard, who was assistant director on most of the early films, died a week before shooting was to be completed. The remaining scenes were directed by Morten Arnfred. Cast veterans Bjørn Watt-Boolsen and Benny Hansen died shortly after the premiere. The final result is, while not terribly funny, still nostalgic and entertaining enough with a cast full of veterans doing what comes natural.

This movie is a must for any fans of Olsen Banden, not only because of all the tragic occurrences that happened during the shooting of the movie, but also as a fitting round-off to the series.

The use of ie. Nordisk Films Studios, and their prob-rooms, where Egon finds his old clothes and is transformed from an old infirm back to - almost - the Egon that we all loved, with his temper tantrums, ingenious plans and all is absolutely brilliant, although not terribly original. This scene has been seen in the movie: Chaplin starring Robert Downey Jr. Here he is in the prop-room, looking for a costume, and the clothes of the Vagabond "magically" beckons him.

However, while I left the movie very satisfied, and pleased with a movie that was clearly above what I had expected - read feared - let it be said that the action/plot is VERY thin, to quote Danny Glover and Mel Gibson "Anorexic", the plot appears to have been written as an excuse to get as many of the old cast from the previous movies back again in one movie, and this is in a sense what makes it so memorable. All plays as well as can be expected, although you also notice, that it has been many years, and at times they have problems getting in to the part, they then recite the lines, but without the wit and bite of the old movies.

The most memorable performance is probably made by Axel Strøbye as Kriminalassistent Jensen in his quest for retirement. The little man fighting the system, and finally succeding in winning.

It is a film that I wholeheartedly recommend other people to see, just be of an open mind when you see it, and don't expect magnificent scenes like the breakthrough under the Royal Theater.

I suppose there are ways in which this could have worked. The final film could have an irony towards the trademarks of the old ones. The somewhat invariable plot structure of the original series could be gently poked fun at. Most likely, of course, no movie should have been made in this series after the two-part ending of 1981... but it was. And boy did they mess up royally. Yvonne is very sorely missed. The fact that the film does not featuring her is about as subtle as a pack of angry bulls running amok in a ceramics store that is being ravaged by a tornado. The character of Ruth, as portrayed by Grethe Sønck, is a pretty poor substitute... no offense to the actress, who is quite talented, but no one could have filled the shoes of Kirsten Walther. That fact alone should have discouraged them from creating this. Everything that the old films built up over the first four films and then maintained steadily through no less than nine entries is picked up, raised high in the air, ungentlemanly dropped and repeatedly jumped on, until there is nothing of the magic left, and everything that was once great about this franchise is destroyed beyond recognition. The humorous antics of these excellent actors put together by two great writers in a marvelous comedy series is reduced to a bunch of old men yelling. The humor that in the old ones was so sophisticated, light and clever is now indiscreet, noisy and lame. The movie isn't funny, to put it simply. The gags are overplayed and rarely contain actual humor. One scene is painfully drawn-out and cartoony in its feeble attempts at being entertaining. The senility is pushed to the extreme, in spite of this series earlier attempts at joking with that topic having been right on the mark and quite successful. I don't believe I smiled once throughout watching this... and this was definitely my very last viewing. The film is by no means an Olsen-Banden film... it starts, progresses and ends too different from the others. I understand and can almost appreciate the attempted nostalgia, but when it so viciously devastates everything that made these movies good... they should have let this franchise be. After this came the Christmas calendar of which the very logic and basic concept is deeply flawed and contradicts the series(disrespecting its very roots, though not in the least as much as this does), and the movie following the idea of aforementioned calendar, which I continually refuse to watch. So far, that's the last of the "revival" of(more like cash-in on) the famous, loved and astounding old series... let's hope it stays that way. Cinematography is nice. Plot is contrived, writing poor. The costumes and production design fits the style of the old films, although here, much of it looks out of place. The film fails to create one single memorable scene. Near the end, all the characters - new and old alike - are collected together in one scene, around a dozen, with less than half of them having anything to do. In many ways, this is a sophomoric effort. In more ways, it's humiliating and embarrassing. The very ending, the last of the film does possess a single clever comment... but by then, it's much, much too late. There is nothing left to even try to save. Had they only stopped in '81. There's a saying... "leave them wanting more". This film left me wishing I hadn't had quite so much. I don't really recommend this to anyone. Have someone describe the ending to you, and make sure they don't tell you anything else about the film. 1/10