Should I Check This Out - Headhunters

To this date, any previous films or shows that I have written about I have rarely read the source material in advance. Changing matters is the Norwegian action thriller, Headhunters, by Morten Tyldum, who will soon be releasing his World War 2 film starring Benedict Cumberbatch. Having already seen the trailer for the film, I then saw the book for sale by Jo Nesbo and I decided to give it a read and really enjoyed it.

The tricky part now is how I can judge a 100 minute film, having read the 376 page book. I read the first Game of Thrones book having seen the first season and enjoyed both as the latter expanded on what I already knew. Now it's the other way around and the film has expectedly downsized on the amount of content to transfer to the big screen. Did it lose something in the process or did it do the book justice?

Known in Norway as Hodejegern, the story follows Roger Brown, a successful headhunter for an important company in Oslo. He has a beautiful wife who he feels he could lose at any moment due to being shorter than her and other men. To compensate, he buys her luxurious gifts and lives in a wealthy area but to afford this lifestyle he also works as an art thief. Through his wife's new gallery, he then meets potential client, Glas Greve, and learns of a valuable painting he owns that could be worth a fortune, but soon finds something he didn't expect. The only actor I recognised from this was Game of Thrones' Nikolaj Coster-Waldau who is perfectly cast as antagonist, Clas Greve. Capturing the physical presence and easy sense of control, he plays off brilliantly against Aksel Hennie's Brown. Hennie is also great, taking the difficult role of a man who has confidence while maintaining an underlying sense of vulnerability simultaneously.

As well as bringing the characters from the book to life, Tyldum also captures Nesbo's mixture of bloody violence and dark humour that go perfectly hand-in-hand. Admittedly, there were some areas that I questioned whether they would be appearing in the film, and some do not which I believe was a wise decision, but some do and really bring Brown's terrifying game of cat and mouse to life. And it's here where I start to believe that Tyldum made the best directions regarding what to omit from the film. Unless he were to introduce a constant voiceover from Brown, many of the events from the book may have alienated the audience as he isn't the most likeable character to begin with in Nesbo's story. That said, there were some parts regarding Greve that are left out which reduced his motivations but what remains was enough to the carry the story forward.

Moving away from comparing the book to the film, this is certainly great fun to watch. Anyone afraid of subtitles should still give this a try as the story is easy to follow and packs plenty of dark comical moments similar to the Coen brothers or Tarantino. While I would have enjoyed a straight adaptation, I understand that not all of the elements would have transferred across successfully. What Tyldum has chosen though works well and is more than enough to recommend Headhunters.