Kidnapping Freddy Heineken

Stars: Jim Sturgess, Sam Worthington, Anthony Hopkins, Ryan Kwanten, Thomas Cocquerel, Jemima West, David Dencik, Kat Lindsay, Roy McCrerey

Director: Daniel Alfredson

Amsterdam, 1982: five jack-the-lad entrepreneurs, led by Cor (Sturgess) and Willem (Worthington), their business strapped for cash, are turned down for a bank loan - and turn to crime, robbing a local bank of a handsome sum. You'd think that might be enough to restart their business, but, this being a true story, and the guys having less sense than the flies in the air, they regard the money as bankroll for a bigger scheme - to snatch local booze billionaire Freddy Heineken (Hopkins) and ransom him for several million guilders (no euros then).

The consequences of this never really seem thought through, but at any rate, the kidnap plan goes off smoothly enough, with Heineken and his chauffeur (Dencik) locked away in a secret room constructed by the perpetrators.

Tensions soon grow, however, when the ransom demanded isn't paid and the weeks tick by...

Hopkins does what he can with a limited role by making bizarre food demands and enjoying the occasional face-to-mask conversation with his captors who are, on the whole, a surly and uncharismatic bunch. It's OK fare, although little sense of suspense is engendered and only an initial canalside car chase after the bank raid makes the pulses race in any sort of way.

David Quinlan

USA/Holland/Belgium 2014. UK Distributor: Signature Entertainment. Colour (unspecified).
95 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: 15.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 1, Drugs 0, Swearing 2.

Review date: 02 Apr 2015