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

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.

"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.

"Noll Tolerans" certainly isn't the best of Scandinavian cinema I've ever seen, but it certainly isn't as bad as some people would like you to believe. It reminded me more of German detective series like for instance "Tatort" or "Ein fall für Zwei" than that it gave me the feeling that I was watching a movie. I guess this is more straight-to-video material and not really a movie for the cinemas, nevertheless I had a good time watching it.

The story is about Johan Falk, a tough police officer, who finds himself in a shoot-out with jewel robbers. He survives it, but an innocent bystander and one of the robbers get killed. Several witnesses recognize Leo Gaut as the other robber, but Gaut isn't just a small-time criminal. He's a very dangerous guy, who doesn't mind threatening the witnesses. Of course the witnesses soon change their declarations, because they fear for their lives and Falk gets suspended and will be arrested because the police now thinks that he started the shooting. Falk escapes, but instead of hiding, he tries to find out the truth, while being chased by some of his own colleagues.

The movie doesn't offer any special twists, but the story is more than OK and the acting is good. Overall watching this movie isn't the most shocking movie experience you'll ever have, but it is decent enough to keep you interested from the beginning to the end. I give it a 7/10.

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.