Reykjavik - Rotterdam

There are things to like about Reykjavik-Rotterdam. First off , its always good to have a film coming out of little known Iceland. Recently films such as Black's Game have really opened my eyes to Cinema from this nation. To see that the Hollywood film Contraband is a remake of Reykjavik -Rotterdam, the expectations were at a high.

Unfortunately Reykjavik-Rotterdam is far from a good film in my opinion. It has many problems with one being that it didn't feel like a complete, all round experience. Our main character travels to Rotterdam on board a cargo ship, to smuggle some alcohol back to Reykjavik in order to give his family a better life. We also have the standard villains who are pursuing and hassling the families of the characters involved. However, while it might sound interesting, the film manages to feel like a B Grade film. By the end of it, you want more. You feel like it was way too simple to receive all the accolades that its received. The villains aren't intimidating enough and the plight of the main character isn't translated very well through the screen.

To sum it all up, Reykjavik-Rotterdam feels like a movie that was rushed. With patience, it could have been memorable, but unfortunately it falls short of the mark.

If you want to see a good Icelandic Crime Thriller, I would suggest Black's Game!

When I looked up this film on IMDb to comment on it, I noticed that there is already talk of a remake with Mark Wahlberg. It doesn't surprise me that major studios would turn to this thriller, which depicts an unusual and interesting milieu and tells its story with great suspense, warmth and humor. Although, as an art historian, I cannot recommend the negligent treatment of a Jackson Pollock painting in this movie. It's kind of sad that the remake means that this Icelandic movie will not get the attention it deserves in other countries. The acting was excellent, the directing impeccable, and the story well-crafted with interesting characters.

I'm not going to spoil anything. So I won't go into any details about the story. I hate when people do that.

Here we have an Icelandic thriller that kept you excited right from the beginning to the very end. I absolutely loved the story, it was fresh and original and distinctively better than most Icelandic films that have tried to depict the dark side of Reykjavík (Iceland's capital). Looking back at films made over 10 years ago, such as "Nei er ekkert svar", it's simply astounding to see how far Icelandic film making has come. This really is an A-level action thriller which I found to be more entertaining than most movies in the similar genre I've seen during the past months. I think the director did an excellent job and Baltasar Kormákur should seriously consider acting more alongside directing because he shows and proves it beyond any doubt that he is one of Iceland's greatest actors. Iceland could of course use more actors because you kind of see the same faces over and over again, every time a film is made. However, when a film is as well casted as this one, one forgets that very quickly. All characters had found their way to just the right people. I must give kudos to Baltasar, Lilja, Ingvar, Þröstur, Ólafur, Jörundur, Victor... Jeez, just all of you. Thank you for a superb film.

Highly recommended, see it as soon as possible.

I was very impressed with the film Reykjavik-Rotterdam. Just from the moment that I saw the trailer, I knew that I had to see this movie, and I was absolutely right! This movie offers you everything you need; Excitement, laughter, drama, you name it! The actors do a fantastic job, especially Baltasar Kormákur who is better known as a director but proves it in this movie that he is a fantastic actor as well. Ingvar E. Sigurðsson, one of Iceland's most beloved actors, is extremely convincing in his role as Baltasar's "friend" and I must say that I feel like all the actors just do a fantastic job. Most Icelandic movies, such as Baltasar's "Brúðguminn", I feel that are only fun for people from Iceland. However, this movie, Reykjavik-Rotterdam, can amuse everybody, and I can definitely say that it's just as good as many Hollywood thrillers I've seen. Try to find this movie and check it out, you won't be disappointed!

When I watched the American Contraband movie, I had no idea it was based on this movie, because I hadn't watched it back then. Of course the minute Contraband came out on DVD some clever marketing guy thought of releasing this movie too and label it with the tag "movie Contraband was based on". Since I liked the the other Contraband, I thought I'd give it a try.

And it is more than apparent that Contraband uses most of this movie as a blueprint. This one though, is leaner and faster. A frenetic pace that might leave some people behind. I like it when people can tell you the same thing, but quicker.. In this case though the remake did improve on some points. One of them is the ending. It doesn't make any sense, even if it is meant to be a joke, they should know better than that. The relationships get explored more in the remake, which on the downside make them a bit cheesy of course.

Tough to say what you might like more. I always think it's good to see the original first and then the remake. But that is up to you.