Kidnapping Freddy Heineken certainly lacks fizzle telling a true story set in Amsterdam in 1983. A group of friends who are builders fallen on hard times are turned down for a bank loan and decide on an outrageous plan to kidnap the head of the Heineken beer group.
They take Freddie Heineken (Anthony Hopkins) and his driver holding them hostage in specially built cells and issuing a massive ransom demand. The ransom is delivered but then their problems begins. The getaway with the money is not meticulously planned and their lack of experience as criminals backfires on them such as the desire to phone loved ones or feeling guilty about the crime.
Hopkins delivers a glorified cameo and like a wounded lion, shouts and screams with random outbursts and demands Chinese food, music and books. He is also worried that his chauffeur also being held in the next room is expendable.
The rest of the actors, Sam Worthington, Jim Sturgess put in bland performances because the script is so flat. Worthington does have one scene in a dress for some weird reason.
Director Daniel Alfredson directs with a lack of verve and urgency. The film does have one sequence of a car chase in Amsterdam which is impressive as they not only had to clear out all the tourists and install period details of the early 1980s. It would had been better such effort had been expended on the rest of the movie.
They take Freddie Heineken (Anthony Hopkins) and his driver holding them hostage in specially built cells and issuing a massive ransom demand. The ransom is delivered but then their problems begins. The getaway with the money is not meticulously planned and their lack of experience as criminals backfires on them such as the desire to phone loved ones or feeling guilty about the crime.
Hopkins delivers a glorified cameo and like a wounded lion, shouts and screams with random outbursts and demands Chinese food, music and books. He is also worried that his chauffeur also being held in the next room is expendable.
The rest of the actors, Sam Worthington, Jim Sturgess put in bland performances because the script is so flat. Worthington does have one scene in a dress for some weird reason.
Director Daniel Alfredson directs with a lack of verve and urgency. The film does have one sequence of a car chase in Amsterdam which is impressive as they not only had to clear out all the tourists and install period details of the early 1980s. It would had been better such effort had been expended on the rest of the movie.