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Stockholm starring Ethan Hawke, Mark Strong and Noomi Rapace: One of the More Fun Heist Films Made

Posted on June 24, 2019 Written by Pinar Tarhan

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Stockholm movie starring Ethan Hawke
Image via imdb.com.

 In 1973, Stockholm, Kaj Hansson (Ethan Hawke), supporting long hair, cowboy boots and a bag, enters a bank, pulls out a machine gun and barks orders. He lets all the customers go, only holding a couple of employees hostage.

When he finds out employee Bianca (Noomi Rapace) pushed the silent alarm, he is more pleased than angry. He makes her call the chief of police, and tell him that if the chief doesn’t come to the bank in 10 minutes, he will shoot her in the face.

The chief arrives with a bunch of officers, sets shop upstairs and goes in to talk to Kaj. In addition to some money and guns, Kaj has a strange demand: he wants prisoner/fellow bank robber Gunnar (Mark Strong) freed.

The confused chief begrudgingly agrees, as at this time, he has no reason to believe Kaj won’t hurt the hostages.

But as time passes and Gunnar’s brought in, an interesting dynamic unfolds. It seems that Kaj, while capable of dramatic and seeimingly violent outburts, doesn’t intend to harm or kill anyone. The hostages are really just his ticket to leaving with Gunnar alive, and he even bonds with Bianca further.

Things are never simple in a hostage situation however, as the prime minister won’t allow them to leave with the hostages, and the chief seems more interested in capturing and outsmarting Kaj than the safety of the civilians.

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Stockholm is based on the actual heist in 1973 which is credited for the psychological term Stockholm Syndrome where hostages develop sympathy for their captors.

And Ethan Hawke’s casting couldn’t have been more perfect. He is brilliant as the slightly nutty but well-meaning robber. It’s also not far-fetched that the hostages, especially but not only Bianca, warm up to him. He shares his only piece of fruit with everyone, has brought games to help pass the time, and he is genuinely more interested in keeping everyone alive and reasonably healthy than the chief, several cops and the prime minister.

Yeah, no one wants to be held hostage at gun point, but if you were going to be in that situation, you could do a lot worse than Kaj, especially a Kaj as portrayed by Ethan Hawke. And it’s always a bliss to watch Mark Strong.

Noomi Rapace is slowly turning to one of my favorite actresses. And this is the second time I watched her on the screen where she develops a relationship with guy she really shouldn’t have. (That other movie is called Dead Man Down, and I strongly recommend it.)

Written and directed by Robert Budreau, I definitely recommend this biographic crime comedy.

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Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: Ethan Hawke, heist movie, Mark Strong, Noomi Rapace, Robert Budreau, stockholm movie

Thick as Thieves starring Antonio Banderas, Morgan Freeman and Radha Mitchell

Posted on October 22, 2009 Written by ripitup

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Morgan Freeman and Antonio Banderas in Thick As Thieves
Morgan Freeman and Antonio Banderas in Thick As Thieves.

Ripley (Morgan Freeman) is an aging, master crook in debt to the Russian mafia. He requests the help of another expert thief, Gabriel (Banderas) to pull of a 4o-million-dollar heist. Ripley also has an attractive god-daughter called Alex (Radha Mitchell) whose father was killed- probably by none other than Ripley himself.

The movie shows us how fast and dangerous stunts Gabriel can pull and that Ripley can track him down. He gets Gabby’s interest by mentioning how much the theft will be worth. Gabby is also very interested in Alex…

Are you smelling clichés? Are you expecting Antonio’s character to get Alexa into bed within the second day he sees her? Are you also expecting Abby to care a lot for this woman that he sleeps with twice? Well, you are right. It is in so many ways a very typical script. It does have some good twists, although you will notice them coming. Well, clichés aren’t that big of a problem. How they explain the twists are. It is not logical at all.  But if you just don’t question anything, it is an OK movie.

Now, I really do have to write about some of the comments made about the movies and the actors though. I read this funny comment that Banderas was too old for the role. Trust me, the movie has many issues but the actor’s age is not one of them. Well, the fact that he can get the girl for instance is one of the few things that made sense. He is 49, in good shape and all though he has matured, he is good-looking. The problem is that his character just seems too plausible and too naive . Other than that the movie does entertain.  Just don’t think. About anything.

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Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: action, Antonio Banderas, heist movie, mimi leder, Morgan Freeman, movies, Radha Mithcell, Thick as Thieves, thriller

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