Headhunters | Rotten Tomatoes

Headhunters

R

Released Apr 27, 2012

1 hr. 40 min.

Action

Crime

Drama

Mystery & Thriller

List

93%

100 Reviews

Tomatometer

85%

25,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

A corporate recruiter (Aksel Hennie), who moonlights as an art thief, plans to steal a valuable painting from the perfect candidate (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) for a job he needs to fill.

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Premiered Sep 05

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Critics Consensus

Grisly, twisty, and darkly comic, Headhunters is an exhilaratingly oddball take on familiar thriller elements.

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Terrance L

This is an exceptionally entertaining film. Once the action gets going, the intensity, comedy, and twists will have you glued to the screen.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/01/24

Full Review

Jerod S

He lives high on the hog while stealing art on the side. His wife (taller than him) has an affair with an art dealer and the world gets tricky and deadly.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/27/24

Full Review

Test T

I watched this on DVD recently. English has been added as an option, so you either get the original Norwegian dialog with English subtitles to read, or an odd sounding characterless English translation with all of the lip sync problems which go with it. That said the film is ok. It starts well, but as the story develops it gets very violent, and I found some of the scenes unnecessarily unpleasant to put it mildly! There are a few too many plot twists which I thought undermined the film's credibility, and there is a rather out of place family values thread woven into the plot to cover all bases. By the time the credits role, the film had completely lost it's initial appeal for me. I don't recommend it.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

12/23/23

Full Review

Darin P

This is why I like foreign films. Well done, well acted and original.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

09/04/23

Full Review

isla s

This is quite a fast paced crime/thriller with some pretty tense and gripping moments. The characters aren't particularly likeable (particularly the main character. Roger) and it felt a bit too fast and frenzied for my liking, as I didn't entirely follow all the plot intrecacies. The effects are decent but the film didn't feel entirely original somehow - its a decent film but it didn't entirely sit well with me overall. I've perhaps seen too many similar films lately. I can't say its entirely memorable and overall I probably wouldn't recommend this as such, no but you could certainly do worse as well - it may be worth seeing if its your kind of thing but I'll leave that up to you to decide.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

G H

Bounces in and out of my top movies list, is crowned as my ‘Best Movie You've Never Heard Of' - what a ride with enjoyable twists and turns.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/14/22

Full Review

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Morten Tyldum

Director

Aksel Hennie

Roger Brown

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau

Clas Greve

Synnøve Macody Lund

Diana Brown

Julie R. Ølgaard

Lotte

Eivind Sander

Ove Kjikerud

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Bill Goodykoontz

Arizona Republic

"Headhunters" is 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.

Rated: 4/5

Jun 28, 2012

Full Review

Kimberley Jones

Austin Chronicle

The film holds its twists too close to the chest, and there's little to chew on till the ambitiousness of its plotting is revealed late in the film.

Rated: 2.5/5

Jun 1, 2012

Full Review

Rene Rodriguez

Miami Herald

By film's end, we're deep into Coen brothers territory, with an extra splash of Sam Raimi-level gore.

Rated: 3/4

May 31, 2012

Full Review

Rita Cannon

Battleship Pretension

The point of Headhunters isn't where you land, but the wild ride taken to get there, and that part of the film definitely delivers.

Mar 4, 2021

Full Review

David Harris

Spectrum Culture

A grisly, darkly comic ride that will appeal to those who loved Larsson's garish, tawdry books.

Rated: 3.5/5

Nov 8, 2019

Full Review

Nicholas Bell

IONCINEMA.com

A fast and loose cat and mouse caper with a fair share of surprising money shots.

Jul 24, 2019

Full Review

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Synopsis

A corporate recruiter (Aksel Hennie), who moonlights as an art thief, plans to steal a valuable painting from the perfect candidate (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) for a job he needs to fill.

Director: Morten Tyldum
Executive Producer: Anni Faurbye Fernandez, Christian Fredrik Martin, Ole Søndberg, Mikael Wallen
Screenwriter: Lars Gudmestad, Ulf Ryberg
Distributor: Magnolia Pictures
Production Co: Yellow Bird, TV2 Norge, Nordisk Film- & TV-Fond, ARD Degeto Film
Rating: R (Nudity|Bloody Violence|Some Grisly Images|Strong Sexual Content)
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: Norwegian
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 27, 2012, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 10, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $1.2M

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