Kidnapping Mr. Heineken Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		2.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		2.5

Kidnapping Mr. Heineken Blu-ray Movie Review

Even Doogie Howser couldn't improve this movie.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman April 25, 2015

The aptly-titled Kidnapping Mr. Heineken takes audiences inside the nabbing of the famous beer magnate, dramatically recreating the famous incident that took place back in 1983. Based both on the real-life event and the further investigative works of Journalist Peter R. de Vries, the film, which features an all-star cast including Anthony Hopkins, Sam Worthington, and Jim Sturgess, presents the kidnapping completely from the perspective of the kidnappers, all of them nonprofessionals in the field who managed to pull off one of the great crimes of the 20th century. The film, directed by Daniel Alfredson (The Girl Who Played with Fire, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest), is a relatively simple affair, more concerned with the inner workings and motivations of the men involved and less the life of the hostage or the rescue efforts taking place away from the action.

The prisoner.

A handful of working men, including Cor Van Hout (Sturgess) and Willem Holleeder (Worthington) have seen their dreams go poof under the heavy burden of economic recession. They're desperate for cash and a second chance but the local bank turns down their request for a loan. In need of something -- anything -- to stay afloat, they hatch a scheme to kidnap the wealthiest man in town, beer magnate Freddy Heineken (Hopkins). But to pull off a job of that magnitude, they know it can't be an amateurish snatch-and-grab. They need it to look like it was pulled off by professionals, professionals who have the resources -- including money -- to make it happen as efficiently as possible. They hold up a bank for the cash and slowly put together a plan. It works. They nab both Heineken and his driver (David Dencik) and demand a hefty ransom that should be peanuts for a man of his enormous wealth. But even as the plan works, it begins to show a number cracks in the foundation as the waiting game ensues.

Kidnapping Mr. Heineken won't be remembered as a special movie or even a particularly good one, but it works well enough as a serviceable picture with mild Thriller undertones and a decent character study vibe to it. The film tells the story entirely from the perspective of the kidnappers, never leaving them to look at the other side of the kidnapping, i.e. how it's handled by his family and the authorities, how they work evidence or whittle down leads. This allows the audience to feel more intimately connected with the kidnappers and the kidnapping, experiencing it only from one side and never quite sure what lurks around the next turn. There's a certain sense of danger, then, an almost haunting overtone that keeps the audience on-edge along with the kidnappers, knowing that something is happening behind the scenes but never sure what it is, how it may play out, or when. The one-sided affair makes the movie smaller but with that intimacy comes the need for a heightened sense of self-awareness and a better grasp of the raw emotions that run through the gamut of the kidnapping, from nabbing Heineken all the way to the end resolution(s). In this way, the linear plot and somewhat flat characterizations are afforded a new life under the power of the unknown elements that play out in opposition throughout.

Yet even as the movie stays with the kidnappers, they never feel developed beyond the basics. The movie takes care to paint them as fair, everyday sorts of people who have fallen on hard times and resort to desperate measures to get back on their feet. The problem is that the movie nudges the audience to sympathize with criminals, people who commit a very serious offense and do so without the movie playing it with either an underlying sense of humor or some kind of greater purpose that offsets their actions and allows the viewer to feel more in-line with them and their plight. As it is, the film has no real heroes, only the kidnappers and the kidnapping victims. The movie does what it can to make Heineken not necessarily unlikable but capable of holding his own against the kidnappers, but it ultimately leaves a gaping hole in which there's no real room for allegiance with either side, resulting in a dry, detached story that's not particularly relatable, doesn't have any well defined heroes or villains, and feels more like a regurgitation of a story rather than something worthy of emotional investment.

Although characterization is largely a miss and none of the characters are particularly likable, the film does enjoy a few solid performances from its leads. Hopkins is, unsurprisingly, the film's best asset not only because he's the most capable and accomplished actor in the bunch but because his character is the closest thing the movie has to a "center." The venerable actor breathes a tangible life into the man who falls prey to the kidnapping scheme. He's quite the verbal sparring partner for them, delivering a series of short but intense and perfectly pitched monologues around his captors as he tries to gain whatever upper hand he can while locked away in a spartan room with only the bare necessities at his disposal. Hopkins' ability to gradually decay as time wears on, looking a little more haggard but also losing his mental edge makes for the movie's finest character arc, simple and expected though it may be. Kidnapper leads Worthington and Sturgess do what they can with roles that desperately want to be more complex than they are but ultimately fail to find any sort of real depth and growth beyond the basic tropes and conventions these sorts of films generally have on tap.

Kidnapping Mr. Heineken Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Kidnapping Mr. Heineken features a dull, uninspired 1080p transfer. The image is drained and flat, with unnecessarily bright and fatigued black levels and a general lack of vitality to its palette. Details are bland, capturing fair basic skin, clothes, brick, and concrete textures with fair accuracy but never getting down to the truly revelatory, lifelike, tactile sort of feel viewers expect from the blest of Blu-ray. The image appears overly processed and unnaturally sharp. Noise is something of a constant. Banding and blocking aren't problematic, however.

Kidnapping Mr. Heineken Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Kidnapping Mr. Heineken's Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack is fair but unremarkable. Music is suitably clear and well defined, whether lighter, airier notes that linger across the front or more aggressive beats that support the film's more involved and frenetic action scenes. There's not much of a deep low end to it, but there's a sufficient sense of basic weight to the music. The track creates a nice little sense of dynamic space in its more involved public locations where footfalls, traffic, and other little bits help to give shape to the environments in question. Gunfire enjoys decent potency but is unsurprisingly lacking that full, natural, heavy sensation. Dialogue plays with commendable clarity and center placement.

Kidnapping Mr. Heineken Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Kidnapping Mr. Heineken contains the following deleted scenes (1080p): Money Trouble (0:51), Are You Alright? (1:22), You Guys Need a Break? (0:51), Sleep (0:51), American Beer (0:42), and Waiting (0:46). Also included are trailers (1080p) for Kidnapping Mr. Heineken, The Humbling, Good People, By the Gun, and The World Made Straight.

Kidnapping Mr. Heineken Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Kidnapping Mr. Heineken won't shake up the kidnapping genre, but it's a decent little time waster that sports a handful of solid performances but a relatively flat arc and an absence of rooting interest in any of the characters or their plights. The movie feels detached and empty, not lacking pure story cohesion and flow but rather a reason to care beyond seeing how it ultimately plays out. When a movie's best asset can be enjoyed merely by fast-forwarding to the end, that's not a good sign. Alchemy's (formerly Millennium Entertainment) Blu-ray release of Kidnapping Mr. Heineken features passable video, fair audio, and a handful of deleted scenes. Rent it.