Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

Majorthebys Charming and brutal

Gary The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Kinley This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Lara Oude Alink After watching this movie, I was left with the feeling I still didn't know what exactly it wanted to say. It touches on so many different subjects and moral dilemmas, but never goes deeper to actually try and give its view on what happens. It goes from ethnic problems in society to the influential power of the media and the moral role of comedians,and more, all in one movie. I believe exploring one or two of these themes in one movie is difficult enough as it is. This is the movie's biggest flaw, in my opinion.But the same criticism can be applied to the characters. Their motivations are all over the place. They change with almost every scene. And after so many changes, you stop believing in them. The actions of some characters simply don't make sense. Why would Max, a man who lives for caring for others and simply snapped at one point, a man who has honest remorse, actively plan to threaten all the people who have made things hard for him? Why would Felix help/exploit him in such a way? Why do we never see the girlfriend again? I know these questions are sort of answered, but in my opinion, it doesn't make that much sense. The story is full, moves at a very quick pace and doesn't seem to know what it wants to get across. You could even say that there is too much story.In the strongest scenes of the movie, the atmosphere speaks for itself and there is no need to explain anything or make things more complicated. In the scene where Max watches in silence what his actions on the fatal night have resulted in, there is no commentary or plot line necessary. It's about life and death and the hard work of an ambulance worker standing in between, shown in a grim but realistic manner. It never exaggerates in the way I thought of lot of scenes did. I found myself asking 'are there really so many people out there who act like this?' The problems and difficult people the ambulance workers are faced with seem so plentiful and over the top that it seems as if everyone is out to get them.The locations and interesting music add loads of atmosphere to this movie, and are, next to the great, intense performances from everyone in the cast, the best part of it. The camera is well used to intensify this. The only thing I did not think was necessary at all, was the temporary shift to black and white. I thought it was more distracting than anything else.Theo Maassen is great in this role. The script makes him play many different aspects of Max as a character (powerless and remorseful at first, angry later and desperate in the end) but he pulls them all off naturally. It's also very interesting from a 'meta' point of view to see an actor playing a comedian make fun of a comedian who is an actor here. The self-referential value of the scenes with Max on stage is remarkable. These points, and the destructive but touching ending makes this movie worth watching, in my opinion.

rstySp00n A lot is already said in the other reviews, one better than the other, but every review is a persona view on the movie.I gave the movie 7 out of 10 because of the acting of Theo (main character) I also loved him in TBS (movie about a form of psychological help (TBS) some criminals get upon their punishment viewed by most people as a means to keep them locked up longer). Theo isn't a real actor, but he's a natural talent for dark, psycho, depressed, and weird guys. The rest of the cast did also pretty good, for Dutch standards.The other reason I gave the movie 7/10 is the idea and the beginning. People being harassed by youth on scooters is a hot item in the Netherlands. Another hot item is the fact that people don't do anything and rather stand and watch or call the police instead of helping victims.One of the big reasons for this (cowardly) behavior is events in the past of people who did stand up and fought back were actually treated worse and punished harder than the criminal. That's also the red line in the movie, is Max a hero or a villain.Recent political shifts towards the right spectrum changed some of the laws. The Justice department is now supposed to punish people who harass the emergency services a lot harder, but police and other services complain there aren't many changes. Another change is that peoples who started as the victim but changed the tides on the criminal aren't arrested anymore and treated like a criminal. They are allowed to stay home and go on with their live but are expected to show up at the court when being called in. Another realistic part of the movie is the influence of the media, the opinion of Dutch people is very easy manipulated also in real live. There are certain TV-shows which are considered "intelligent" and whatever they say is considered "the truth".This movie combines all those factors pretty good, but it kinda gets over the top and becomes unrealistic. The movie starts with a message but ends with nothing, I think it's a missed opportunity. A bit as if the director didn't know where to go, serious or just entertainment.too bad, but still a good movie and I would love to see Theo Maassen in a good psycho thriller again.

dusan-22 Very intelligent movie with the art film moments. Excellent acting, very good European camera school, good editing. Can't find anything bad about it. Casting was superb and actor who plays Max was just made for this role. Great drama and hard social question about the world we live in with the pretty critical answer suggested. Moral dilemmas in the world without moral are turning against our hero. Then, heroism is relative and changeable in time but money stays the main master. Power of mass control presented by the character of an evil showman looks exactly as the world we live in controlled and operated by mass media. It twists and turns the public opinion when needed and by that controls the moral values by its material needs and not by the need for true. What happens to an honest man as Max in such world is getting lost and then losing himself. Very intelligent portrait of the modern world moral values versus a good man. And one more thing: the movie is definitely not a thriller.

Rob Broekhof Grading this movie with a "five" means grading as "doubtful". Why?! The Movie starts with a quote from a Prime Minister from the Netherlands (from 08/10/2010 until 23/04/2012). A free translation of this quote: "We want to reclaim society from the bastards".I resent that kind of promotion of collective fear, especially because of the way it came across to me in this movie.In the beginning I was able to recognize what was happening; after several drawbacks and being torn between being considered to be a hero and a criminal … the main character "Max" snaps … BUT … how this turns out in the end, was very unlikely.I believe the film should have ended at the point where he drew a gun on those young bastards that were harassing him all the time. One of the intentions of Max was to balance the escalation level of this degenerated conflict … I do not think that there would have been any other way … the law really does protect bastards too much I guess.Alas, Max kept on degenerating after that, and this is where I felt it became doubtful … because how to reclaim society from the bastards when people like Max also become a bastard?! Until then, I think that he truly made a pretty successful effort to act sane! On top of that … I really wonder whether these annoying boys or Max represent the TRUE bastards of society …I guess not … and I do feel that all bastards are basically full of fear … and that the enemy is within US … and it's called FEAR as well … the FEAR for the need to defend yourself in situations as depicted in this movie, and … the FEAR for yourself to do really bad stuff to other people ... to make a true effort to find out how "Room 101" needs to be prepared for someone you dearly hate ... an example of the danger of individual FEAR.Room 101 is a place introduced in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. It is a torture chamber in the Ministry of Love in which the Party attempts to subject a prisoner to his or her own worst nightmare, fear or phobia ... another example of the danger of collective FEAR … the FEAR that this Prime Minister and the movie makers are promoting