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HEADHUNTERS (HODEJEGERNE)Movie Reviews
Norwegian Danish language thriller about a corporate headhunter who moonlights as an art thief to subsidize his wife's lavish tastes. Cast:Aksel Hennie, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Joachim Rafaelsen, Synnove Macody Lund, Julie R. OlgaardDirector:Morten TyldumRelease Date:April 27, 2012DVD Release:August 28, 2012From:MagnoliaRating:RLength:1 hr 41 min
AUGUST 28, 2012
Headhunters (Hodejegerne), Very Good Reviews Key Cities
Headhunters (Hodejegerne) played in key cities to very good reviews. • Tom Long wrote in the Detroit News, "...sort of Tarantino-with-snow-and-accents, subtitled mayhem that balances offbeat convenience with tight turns. 'Headhunters' will indeed hand you your head." • And David Edelstein called the film in New York Magazine, "...a droll bloodbath..." More Reviews Below...
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: VERY GOOD(cg) "...has a winning cutthroat perversity.... for a while the movie is devious fun, but once a rival scoundrel cuts in, the tale grows increasingly over-the-top."(See all of Owen Gleiberman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 85 words, 05/04/12
James Berardinelli, Reel Views: VERY GOOD(cg) "...bloody adult fun. The screenplay is smart and darkly funny.... though some of the dialogue is spoken tongue-in-cheek, it never becomes too flippant."(See all of James Berardinelli's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 735 words, 04/28/12
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NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES/CHICAGO/TORONTO (12 Reviews)
Nicolas Rapold, New York Times: WEAK "...the endless pursuit begins to feel a little pointless and, even with a couple of false-bottom shocks, repetitive.... As black comedy, the film is crude and downright sloppy..."(See all of Nicolas Rapold's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 439 words, 04/27/12
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: EXCELLENT "...a dark adult entertainment, a wild and bloody adrenaline rush of a movie that deals in gleeful grotesqueness and over-the-top implausibilities."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 642 words, 04/27/12
V.A. Musetto, New York Post: VERY GOOD(cg) "The sex, nudity and violence are nonstop, but that's what makes it exciting entertainment. See it before the Hollywood remake gets it all wrong."(See all of V.A. Musetto's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 229 words, 04/27/12
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: VERY GOOD(cg) "Swift, amoral and nicely unpredictable.... The violence is jarringly graphic, though more sparing incident to incident than many an American counterpart."(See all of Michael Phillips's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 328 words, 05/11/12
Rafer Guzman, New York Newsday: MODERATE(cg) "...a bit like an Ikea desk assembled with your nondominant arm -- sleek and attractive, but likely to fall to pieces if you look at it too hard."(See all of Rafer Guzman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 305 words, 05/18/12
David Edelstein, New York Magazine: EXCELLENT "...a droll bloodbath... Director Morten Tyldum winds his jack-in-the-boxes in full view, and still you jump when they're sprung... Grisly thrillers don't get much more delectable."(See all of David Edelstein's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 698 words, 04/23/12
Michael Atkinson, Village Voice/LA Weekly: MODERATE "Plenty of twisty scripting makes the queasy damage seem conceptually neat and tidy, as if that's a good idea, but what we need here is a little more meat."(See all of Michael Atkinson's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 197 words, 04/25/12
Peter Howell, Toronto Star: VERY GOOD(cg) "...begins as a caper flick -- we even get an opening how-to in the art of art theft -- before transforming into a chase thriller, with both sections equally engrossing."(See all of Peter Howell's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 547 words, 05/04/12
Liam Lacey, Toronto Globe & Mail: VERY GOOD(cg) "...slick and spritely, a mixture of corporate skullduggery and low-life slapstick that plays like 'The Firm' meets 'Blood Simple.' "(See all of Liam Lacey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 691 words, 05/04/12
Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: EXCELLENT(cg) "A streak of black comedy nicely distinguishes the story from those dour Stieg Larsson adaptations.... feels both surprising and logical..."(See all of Norman Wilner's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 152 words, 05/03/12
KEY CITIES (11 Reviews)
Stephanie Merry, Washington Post: VERY GOOD(cg) "...a cat-and-mouse game with the giddy excitement of a heist movie... the humor lifts up the proceedings when things take a turn for the dramatic during the denouement."(See all of Stephanie Merry's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 481 words, 05/11/12
Gary Thompson, Philadelphia Inquirer: OUTSTANDING(cg) "Director Morten Tyldum finds the right, tricky tone - as the movie grows increasingly violent, it manages to be both hair-raising and darkly funny."(See all of Gary Thompson's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 351 words, 05/04/12
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star-Tribune: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...technically assured, diabolically entertaining film worked me over like a cathedral pipe organ. Awesome is too weak a word to describe it."(See all of Colin Covert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 518 words, 05/25/12
Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: EXCELLENT(cg) "...an absurd amount of grisly fun, which is a good thing, since, looked at in any great detail, it probably doesn't hold up all that well."(See all of Bill Goodykoontz's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 618 words, 06/29/12
Ty Burr, Boston Globe: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "The movie's lead actor is its strong suit: Hennie has a fox's ready smile and the insecurity of a short man in a nation of beanpoles."(See all of Ty Burr's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 487 words, 05/11/12
Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times: VERY GOOD(cg) "...isn't a pretty film, and it doesn't always entirely make sense, but it races along like a man chased by killers. It's thoroughly entertaining in its blood-soaked way..."(See all of Moira Macdonald's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 307 words, 05/25/12
Shawn Levy, Portland Oregonian: EXCELLENT(cg) "...blacker-than-black... It feels like a Coen brothers film, what with all the mortification and terror our poor hero suffers and the way our attitudes turn."(See all of Shawn Levy's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 155 words, 02/16/12
Tom Long, Detroit News: EXCELLENT(cg) "...sort of Tarantino-with-snow-and-accents, subtitled mayhem that balances offbeat convenience with tight turns. 'Headhunters' will indeed hand you your head."(See all of Tom Long's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 288 words, 05/18/12
Michael Atkinson, Village Voice/LA Weekly: MODERATE "Plenty of twisty scripting makes the queasy damage seem conceptually neat and tidy, as if that's a good idea, but what we need here is a little more meat."(See all of Michael Atkinson's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 197 words, 04/25/12
Gerald Peary, Boston Phoenix: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...a slick entertainment with well-orchestrated chases and bloody shootouts, though its characterizations are shallow and sketchy."(See all of Gerald Peary's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 85 words, 05/10/12
Sam Adams, AV Club: EXCELLENT(cg) "...its title rapidly turns literal, and what seemed like a lightweight heist thriller careens into a bloody-minded game of cat and mouse."(See all of Sam Adams's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 390 words, 04/26/12
Calum Marsh, Slant: POOR(cg) "The premise is so loaded with simplistic psychoanalytic implications that the screenplay might as well be co-credited to Jacques Lacan..."(See all of Calum Marsh's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 612 words, 04/24/12
Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: EXCELLENT(cg) "A streak of black comedy nicely distinguishes the story from those dour Stieg Larsson adaptations.... feels both surprising and logical..."(See all of Norman Wilner's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 152 words, 05/03/12
MaryAnn Johanson, Flick Filosopher: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...a hilarious satire on male inadequacy disguised as an outrageously violent crime thriller... Much of it is just so wrong that it ends up just so right."(See all of MaryAnn Johanson's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 429 words, 04/05/12
HIGHBROW PRESS (5 Reviews)
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: OUTSTANDING "...one-of-a-kind... A transgenre thriller that glides effortlessly from crisp social commentary through off-kilter comedy to paranoid terror..."(See all of Joe Morgenstern's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 442 words, 04/27/12
Nicolas Rapold, New York Times: WEAK "...the endless pursuit begins to feel a little pointless and, even with a couple of false-bottom shocks, repetitive.... As black comedy, the film is crude and downright sloppy..."(See all of Nicolas Rapold's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 439 words, 04/27/12
Anthony Lane, New Yorker: VERY GOOD "...a gleeful exercise in overkill... but at its heart is a consummate depiction of a permanent type -- the proud and prickly male, thrown back on his desperate wits."(See all of Anthony Lane's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 776 words, 05/07/12
Bob Mondello, NPR: VERY GOOD "...has some fairly grisly violence, but also considerable humor and the sort of intricate, thought-through storytelling you'd expect from Hitchcock or the Coen brothers."(See all of Bob Mondello's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 492 words, 04/27/12
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: EXCELLENT "...a dark adult entertainment, a wild and bloody adrenaline rush of a movie that deals in gleeful grotesqueness and over-the-top implausibilities."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 642 words, 04/27/12
MOVIE INDUSTRY (5 Reviews)
Boyd Van Hoeij, Daily Variety: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "A smooth, intriguing opening and a predictable but emotionally satisfying home stretch bookend helmer Morten Tyldum's otherwise by-the-numbers Norwegian thriller..."(See all of Boyd Van Hoeij's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 648 words, 08/08/11
John DeFore, Hollywood Reporter: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "Thoroughly ludicrous but hardly unentertaining... could have benefitted from a more gut-level approach than director Morten Tyldum's arch self-seriousness..."(See all of John DeFore's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 523 words, 09/09/11
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: EXCELLENT "...a dark adult entertainment, a wild and bloody adrenaline rush of a movie that deals in gleeful grotesqueness and over-the-top implausibilities."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 642 words, 04/27/12
Nicolas Rapold, New York Times: WEAK "...the endless pursuit begins to feel a little pointless and, even with a couple of false-bottom shocks, repetitive.... As black comedy, the film is crude and downright sloppy..."(See all of Nicolas Rapold's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 439 words, 04/27/12
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: OUTSTANDING "...one-of-a-kind... A transgenre thriller that glides effortlessly from crisp social commentary through off-kilter comedy to paranoid terror..."(See all of Joe Morgenstern's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 442 words, 04/27/12
16.6 Percentage Points Average Difference Between Reviews (Norm is 18.4pp; <18.4pp = More Consistent; >18.4pp = More Mixed)
Headhunters (Hodejegerne)'s reviews are separated by an average 16.6 percentage points. The norm for this measure is 18.4 percentage points. Less than 18.4 indicates more consistent reviews; greater than 18.4 indicates more mixed reviews. In the chart below, each dot represents a review, with the dots at the top more positive than the dots at the bottom. From left to right, the dots represent reviews in big, bigger and biggest publications. Roll over each dot for more detail.
Headhunters (Hodejegerne) (35 reviews) Roll over dots for each review
Coverage:Headhunters (Hodejegerne)'s reviews cover 55.3% of potential readers (average is 67.9%). Volume:The film's reviews total 14,722 words involume (average is 20,194 words). Length:The film's reviews average 421 words in length (the norm is 517 words).
Reviews Broke 6.4 Hours After Release (Norm is 1.2 Release)
Headhunters (Hodejegerne)'s reviews on average broke 6.4 hours after opening. Norm for this measure is 1.2 hours before. The chart below shows reviews on opening day and the days before and after opening; the left side is earlier and the right side is later. The red bars extending above the horizontal mid-line represent more positive reviews, and the red bars extending below represent more negative reviews. The white space/red bar in the middle is Headhunters (Hodejegerne)'s opening day. Click on any bar for a list of the reviews for that day.
Headhunters (Hodejegerne) (35 reviews, click on bars for reviews)
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