|
 xecutive Protection" has the distinction of
being the first film from Sweden to be reviewed on Nixflix.com. It's an action
film, although the action is kept to a minimum despite what the boxcover and the
pictures would have you believe. It's a drama, although the drama is so
restrained you wonder what any of it means, and it will probably take a while
after watching the film to finally "get" everything the film was going
for.
The star of "Executive Protection" (aka
"Livvakterna") is Jacob Eklund, who plays Johan Falk, an emotionally
unavailable cop who, as the film opens, has been busted down so low in the ranks
that he's filing papers on stolen bicycles. Because of a tragedy in his past,
Johan has resolved to become as emotionally detached from anyone and everything
in his life. This makes him a dedicated cop, but a terrible friend. When Sven
Persson (Samuel Froler), a childhood acquaintance of Johan, comes into the
crosshairs of a sadistic mercenary (Christoph Ohrt), Johan is asked to help.
Joining a local group that provides security service, Johan goes up against the
mercenary's group of killers, with Sven's fortune -- but more importantly, his
family's life -- at stake.
At its most exciting, "Executive Protection" has
ambitions of being more than it is capable of. As mentioned, the film is not
really an action movie. Under the direction of Anders Nilsson,
"Executive" is more of a drama with sudden spurts of action in it.
Cars don't blow up, there are no outrageous stunts, and in fact, everything is
choreographed to be so "down to Earth" that anyone familiar with
standard Hollywood action fare will feel a little underwhelmed by what they see.
I guess you could call "Executive" the anti-Hollywood action movie;
only it's not really an action movie per se, so there you have it.
The drama side of "Executive" has notions of
being more than what eventually ends up onscreen -- or at least at first glance.
The movie takes a lot of risk assuming that audiences will see what it's trying
to get at without being directly told that A leads to B to C. Whatever
resolutions the film offers in terms of character arc are executed with such
subtlety that they aren't readily obvious. (For those who decide to see the
movie, I would suggest taking a while to consider the film's last 10 minutes.
Johan's standoff with the mercenary, in particular, means something more than
what's immediately obvious onscreen.)
The film focuses a lot on Johan's life, and how people
react to his cavalier attitude toward others. We learn that Johan became a cop
after his girlfriend was killed in a hit-and-run accident years ago; she was
pregnant with their child when she died, and now Johan can no longer allow
himself to be responsible for anyone. He's as closed when it comes to emotional
attachment as anyone can be; in fact, Johan drives everyone away without batting
an eye. It's so second nature to him that he doesn't even acknowledge his
actions anymore.
The screenplay does make a mistake of glossing over the
film's other characters. Alexandra Rapaport has a large role as Pernilla, one of
the agents in the security service. Beyond what a character tells us about
Pernilla (that she's the daughter of a diplomat who was murdered), we know
nothing else about her, or even her (seemingly close) relationship with the
security firm's boss. This lack of knowledge comes into play when considering
the action Pernilla takes at the end of the movie. The reasons are clear, but
not very obvious. For those of us used to having Hollywood spell out character
motivations in great detail, "Executive" takes a little getting used
to.
If it sounds as if "Executive Protection" has no
action, that isn't exactly true. There is a car chase, a bloody shootout in the
beginning, another shootout in the middle, and an extended gunfight at the end.
Unfortunately there are times when the action sequences don't ring true, and the
choreography just don't feel right. If the filmmakers were going for realistic,
they failed. There's no bang to the action scenes, and as a result much
of the gunbattles come across as just barely serviceable.
"Executive Protection" is most effective when it
doesn't bother with the action and instead focuses on the characters. The
screenplay is perhaps a little too understated for its own good, but you really
can't fault a film that requires you to make more of an effort to see its
intentions than your average action movie. "Executive" is good, but it
could definitely have used a lot more "punch" to it. For instance,
when gun squibs look like cheap firecrackers, it's time to call in an expert.
|
