Vet hard

Well, I read in some of the reviews here that the story is not really highly original and that is indeed true. However, it is not that strange, since this movie is a Dutch re-make from the Danish movie "Old Men in New Cars", something most viewers seem to have missed. Not having seen the original I can't compare the two and maybe that is for the better, because often a re-make loses it from the original, simply for that is not the original.

Vet Hard is a good debut from new Dutch director Tim Oliehoek. It doesn't have any pretensions, other then to just simply entertain and that it certainly does. Jack Wouterse is perfectly casted as Bennie, the main character and also the rest of the cast is adequate. The movie evolves around some nice action sequences and slapstick humor and all in all this makes for an entertaining experience. Not a top 250 of all time movie, but good enough for a nice and relaxed evening.

This movie is really a breath of fresh. After watching almost nothing else but heavy Dutch period drama's, drama's in particular and war productions, there finally now is a simple, spectacular and entertaining Dutch movie, in the form of "Vet Hard".

The humor in this movie is cruel and violent. Though it's far from subtle all, it still makes you laugh. To be honest, I think you have to be Dutch to fully understand and appreciate the humor of the movie. The movie however does goes a bit too far at times, even for my taste. I mean having one of the main characters being a necrophiliac serial killer just is not my idea of good taste and quality of humor.

The story is simple and almost non-existent. It's just a pile up of gangster movie clichés and over-the-top comical situations. You clearly shouldn't take this movie serious and watch it for what it is. This movie is a real no-brainer that certainly does entertain and give you a good 88 minutes.

As simple as the movie may be, the quality of it is certainly good. The movie is directed with lots of feeling for pace and handles the characters nicely as well. The action sequences are definitely the best elements of the movie. They are superbly choreographed and even brought better to the screen, also with the help of some excellent editing. It makes it obvious that Tom Oliehoek is a great new young action-movie director, who perhaps already is too big for the Netherlands. Of course the quality and size of it all doesn't hold a candle to an average overdone Hollywood blockbuster production. But this has nothing to do with the directing qualities and talent of Tim Oliehoek but more with the low budget, though for Dutch standards this still was a very expensive movie. At least the movie is no 'Hollywood wannabe'. It has quality and style of its own and it gives the movie its very own unique identity.

The acting to be honest surpassed expectations. You normally wouldn't expect quality acting in an action/comedy like this but his movie has some good actors in it, who all did a good job. Jack Wouterse normally doesn't play main characters and in some movies his role is even no more than just a bit part. I already liked him very much as an actor before this movie but I like him even more now. He shows that he can handle bigger roles and that he is capable of carrying an entire movie for most part on his own. Other fine Dutch and Belgian actors also portray some fine other roles. So, Tim Oliehoek is not just a great action director but also one fine actors director. Only thing is that the movie has a bit too many characters with as a result that not every characters works out as fine or comical as the other. The movie is also filled with lots of cameos of famous Dutch celebrities. I was afraid this was going to get an overkill of it but the did a good job at keeping it to a minimum and till a point were it doesn't get ridicules or distracting from the story.

The fact that I rate this movie only a 6 has nothing to do with its entertainment value. It's just as entertaining as some other movies which I rated a 8 in the past, it's just of lesser quality all. But seeing the circumstances (only 40 days of shooting, for many complicated action sequences included, a €3,700,000 budget.) you have to give credit to this movie and its entire cast & crew.

6/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

I went to see this movie, expecting to see a nice humorous action movie, but I was VERY disappointed when I left the cinema... They tried to make a funny movie, but the jokes were sooo easy even a 5 year would understand them and that's not my kind of humour. The first half of the movie didn't really contain a story, which can be OK (see "Dude where's my car"), but in the second half they suddenly tried to make a story, in which they failed big time.

Everything that happened in the movie was so obvious that you could see it coming 10 minutes in front, so after a while everything that happened started to annoy me. I was like "I hope they won't let this happen" and then a few seconds later it happened, bummer... for me, cuz some people seemed to enjoy themselves, which was even more annoying

Conclusion: don't waste your money on this movie or, if your going to see it anyway, have a lot of beer before entering the cinema, it might work....

I went to see Vet hard (or as it is called in Belgium 'volle gas' ) with expectations that weren't too high. My experience with former dutch attempts at action movies, especially the ones as far back as the 'flodder' movies and other dick maas attempts like 'amsterdamned', were not too good. And the trailer of vet hard did not promise any improvement.

What a sigh of relief I could breathe when I watched the movie! The story is erratic and makes no sense at times, but the movie does not aspire or pretend to be a feat of high story telling ability. Instead it focuses on it's best assets; fun action sequences which are exhilarating at times, despite the limited budget, and slapstick-like humor provided by a fantastic Jack Wouterse in the role of 'Bennie' and Peter van den Begin as 'Vuk'.

The acting overall ranges from adequate to excellent, the best being provided by Kurt Rogiers who portrays a necrophiliac serial-rapist in a way that he is almost likable. Jack Wouterse plays a convincing and extremely funny overweight Bennie and carries the role of the main character well. I wasn't too exited by the acting of Bracha van Doesburgh however, who looks great, but, as a fist timer tries her best to portray her character as believable as possible but fails in doing so at times.

All in all Vet Hard has it's weak points, a lot of them actually, but it is easy to forgive them. The movie was made with love and care and it is clearly visible the cast had a lot of fun making it.

An 8 out of 10

I quit the movie after 36 minutes so one might think it is unfair to judge. Its just that by that time the Dutch team got so far behind the Danish original ("old men in new cars") there was no chance to make up the deficit. I did not know that I'm going to see a remake from the beginning so I just felt a little uncomfortable when Vuk was introduced. But soon they made clear whom they are going to challenge. From now on I couldn't help but to compare with the original. All of a sudden the actors appeared to be amateurish impostors. You might have experienced the situation someone's telling a joke that is not only well known but also badly presented. What a shame. Such a disgraceful defeat should not be published.