Easy Money

The first time I saw this film I had just finished the book. Simply loved the book and I was really looking forward to the movie adaptation. At first I found myself disappointed. The problem according to me was how they had handled the material. The movie just felt like a too trimmed down and simplified adaptation. I understand that you can't bring the entire book to the big screen, but this felt rushed and simple. Character that felt vastly different to their counterparts in the book. It took quite some time before I saw the film again. I decided to try being more objective, not keep irritating myself over the changes. Take it for what it is and not what it could and maybe should have been. I´ve seen it several times since often with long breaks between, meaning years. It seems each time I see it I like it more. Now I think it´s one of the best Swedish thrillers, at least of the ones I have seen. A really gripping movie about criminal underworld, themes of social status, gripping characters and thrilling events. This is a brutal film not just in the action but also the plot. It feels very realistic even if I don´t really know anything about the stuff. The author of the book has personal experience of the world he writes about. The acting is very good. Excellent casting choices. Not only in their performances but they really feel believable in this world. Joel Kinnaman is pretty much as I imagined JW and Matias Varela it totally believable. The actor which makes the best performance is Dragomir Mrsic, his performance is great and his is the most gripping character. The action is among the best in a Swedish movie. Visually great with suspense at the highest. Brutal and tense without overdoing it. Not wanting to bad mouth Swedish movies but the production is really on top. I think that even if you are not familiar with the book you will have little problem in following the plot. The pace is fast but not too much. It still gives time to give us understanding of the characters. Which is totally necessary as the characters are just as interesting as the events they are in, maybe even more so.

Snabba Cash is a brutal, realistic, tense and gripping. They have done a movie that I think does the book justice but also works very well as a movie on its own.

A really good action thriller with interesting characters. I do NOT think that they are plain stereotypes without Drott. On the contrary. You feel for them and it's easy to get engaged in their lives and all they experience.

The movie manages to bring forth some very sensitive moments as well as very brutal scenes with realistic violence. I especially likes the lighting when it comes to the technical part of Snabba Cash. I also liked the shots of some of the dialogue which i found innovative without being over the top. They made it very interesting to watch.

I usually look the other when it comes to Swedish movies but I really enjoyed this one.

I say watch it.

What I really liked about this movie is that no matter where the characters were from, they had actors from that country playing them. This is how it should be done for all films. Many times in Hollywood movies, we see an English-speaking actor playing a foreign character and you can hear an accent. Hollywood thinks they can get away with it because the Americans won't notice. This may be true but this alone is worth 1 point out of 10. If I am watching some Serbians talking among themselves, I want it to be as real as possible. Only a Serb knows how to talk like a Serb and only a German knows how to talk like a German. And the same goes vice- versa, only an American should play an American. And that's what this movie has. It has actors that play characters from their homeland.

This film teaches you how quickly life can turn the other cheek, especially in the crime world. The innocence portrayed by our lead character JW, played by Joel Kinnaman takes you right into this. He gets himself involved in a world where he naturally doesn't belong by making an important decision at the beginning of the film. The movie takes you through all of his emotions as he learns more and more about this new world.

JW (Joel Kinnaman) is a poor economics student who is dabbing in questionable money making schemes while faking a double life with his rich acquaintances. He falls for the rich Sophie (Lisa Henni). Jorge (Matias Varela) has just escaped from jail. JW and Jorge is working for the Albanian drug lord Abdulkarim who is trying to put together a big shipment. Meanwhile Mrado (Dragomir Mrsic) is a Serbian enforcer. The Serbian are going to war with Abdulkarim but Mrado has a new responsibility in his daughter and he's planning a final score to get out of it all.

Mrado says that people start becoming greedy and scared. That's what I love about this story. Everybody is a bastard. Nobody is safe. JW thinks he's smarter than he actually is, and he never truly understands that he's expendable. I love how Jorge breaks it all down for JW, and the two men's complicated relationship. There are no angels here, just survivors.

Fortunately, thriller is not dead. Hollywood thriller is a desiccated corpse. It somehow keeps plodding stealing good ideas from around a world. This movie is awaiting a remake in Hollywood. Can't wait to see that disaster. What makes this Swedish thriller fresh and original is the hefty dose of reality and interest in it's characters. They are not just a bunch of crooks and psychopaths, they are human too. Young Swede with expensive tastes and little money, Chilean criminal with dreams and the Serbian enforcer with an 8-year daughter to care for. We see the glimpse of what they are made of. Nothing overly heavy and preachy, but just enough to fell real and plausible. And that is what Hollywood doesn't do. The audience they aim for, pimply, computer game addicted, 14 year olds just don't have the patience for anything else apart from explosions and non-stop action. So, thankfully comes this brilliant flick with 2 sequels to follow.