Vet hard

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

"Vet Hard", a remake of the Danish movie "Old men in new cars", is one of the very few action movies to come out of the Netherlands, and because of this it was received quite enthusiastically by the Dutch press. For once, the Dutch press was actually right. While it certainly isn't very original, it's a lot more fun than the somewhat awkward Danish original, and it's a great action comedy in its own right.

The story of "Vet Hard" revolves around ex-con Benny, who, upon getting out of jail, discovers that his friend and mentor Mast is terminally ill, and can only be saved by a new liver. Together with Mast's necrophiliac son and a girl who takes the term "femme fatale" a little too seriously (she constantly tries to kill herself) he tries his best to obtain the precious organ to save him, which leads to lots of car chases, random destruction and slapstick violence.

This kind of thing has been done dozens of times before, but not often this well. Just about everything works in this movie. First of all, it's very fast-paced, with the action sequences and jokes succeeding each other rapidly. The action is decidedly over-the-top, with lots of cartoony violence, people getting crushed under falling objects, etc. It all works perfectly since the movie fortunately doesn't take itself seriously at all. There are lots of very politically incorrect jokes (hey, it's a Dutch movie, what did you expect) that some might consider tasteless, but somehow the vast majority of the jokes work, and the amount of real "toilet humor" (as often seen in American comedies) is kept to a minimum. As an added bonus, many celebrity Dutchmen/women appear in cameos, and often meet their end in gruesome and hilarious manners.

On top of that, the actors all do a very good job. Jack Wouterse is great as the main character Benny, Bracha van Doesburgh makes a great debut as the suicidal girl, and even typical soap/teen movie actors like Kurt Rogiers and Johhny de Mol do a decent enough job. The funniest character, however, is eastern-European handyman Vuk (Peter van den Begin), who constantly manages to short-circuit, immolate, or blow up things (or people, for that matter). It's not sophisticated, but it works.

Well, what else is there to say? This certainly isn't a deep or thought-provoking movie, or one that you will remember for years, so there's really not that much more to talk about. Suffice it to say that "Vet Hard" succeeds marvelously at what it attempts to do, and while it lasts its damned fine entertainment.

***1/2 out of *****

My God, what a rip-off! Dutch comedy at its lowest level, with your fair share of unfunny slapstick, simplistic misogynism and very stupid jokes. Even Luc Besson has not ever sunk to this level...

Can you blame the actors? Well, no second-rate soap actor would of course refuse a part in such a blockbuster, but I must say that I was disappointed by the fact that Jack Wouterse (who was magnificent in Temmink) accepted his part. Is it so hard to get a decent role these days? Or did he just misread the script?

The only reason why I give this movie 2/10 instead of 1/10 is the aircraft scene, which was quite spectacular. So just watch the aircraft scene and move on to some thing else.

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

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