Maybe the movie gets more intelligible and interesting later, but we were so bored and tired of listening to the actors whine and yell that we quit early. Life's too short.Most everything was very unrealistic, which is especially unfortunate when the story is supposedly a TRUE one. The characters weren't as smart and level-headed as their history suggests they should be. And there was non-stop idiotic vocabulary and violence. No thank you.Basically, the film is an opportunity wasted. Huge bummer. We would have loved to have seen the real story with believable characters and scenarios.

Amsterdam 1982, the recession has hit hard. A group of friends and builders are down on their luck and are refused a bank loan. It's spokesman Cor van Hout proposes an outrageous plan, to kidnap local millionaire, the successful Freddy Heineken. The group test the waters by carrying out a bank heist, then carry out the daring dead, taking Heineken and his driver, holding them hostage, issuing a huge ransom demand. Cracks appear in their unit, and their family lives suffer too.Most of the positives surround Hopkins, he gives a masterclass in acting, his performance is understated and yet believable. Some of the best scenes in the movie revolve around his demands for Chinese food, books, Schubert etc, it's very random but enjoyable.One entertaining moment when the team realise they've left the ransom note in a photocopier nearby.Sadly the film didn't keep my attention, it's the kind of film you'll need a crossword or Sudoku puzzle. Unfortunately it is quite boring, the plot was a good one, I think possibly had some humour been added to it that may have helped, as a thriller it just doesn't work, there's no tension or drama caused, you never feel at any point that the gang truly mean business.As for the accents, some of them wanted to go Dutch, some of them didn't, it felt inconsistent.It could have been so good. I've only seen a trailer for the Dutch production, but that seems to have the atmosphere that was needed, this production is sadly a week old unwanted glass of Heineken, FLAT.5/10

'Kidnapping Freddy Heineken' is a story about a gang of Dutch crooks who decide that holding one of Holland's wealthiest businessmen for ransom will be a fast-track to easy money. It's hardly an inspiring premise, but the thing that makes it – slightly – better than the rest, is that it's based on a true story.If you check out the literature online about it, you'll see that – surprise, surprise – liberties have been taken with the plot, but, from what I can gather, it is reasonably faithful – if you excuse the obvious parts which have been 'Hollywooded up' to speed the story up. The second plus point is Anthony Hopkins, who plays the titular millionaire. Always a good performance from 'Sir Tony.' Unfortunately, he's not in it as much as most of us would probably like. The main story focuses on the criminals, half of which are pretty bland, although one is played by Sam Worthington and another does have a family who features prominently, fleshing out his character a bit more. You may have to wait about forty-five minutes before we meet Hopkins though.The film does its best to get us to empathise with the criminals and, for the most part, it sort of succeeds. We can see that they're the down-on-their-luck sorts who are only really after the money, but, at the end of the day, they are criminals, so – deep down – we're pretty much waiting for them to get their comeuppance.If you're interested in the history of the case, it's probably best to read one of the books. Granted, I haven't, but I'm happy to settle for the big screen adaptation. Yeah, it passes the time – it's nothing special and I probably won't remember it in a year or so, but it kept me just about entertained enough while I was watching it.

Jim Sturgess and Sam Worthington star in this inside story of the planning, execution, rousing aftermath and ultimate downfall of the kidnappers of beer tycoon Alfred "Freddy" Heineken (Sir Anthony Hopkins), which resulted in the largest ransom ever paid for an individual. I went into this thinking I would like this film, but really it was rather boring. We never really get a good insight into why these guys did this, and I would think we would get a more important film out of this filmed story than this- which was basically a direct-to-on-demand-platforms-?? Hopkins' talents are a bit wasted in his role, and as far as our two main stars- Sturgess and Worthington- really have never been terribly impressed with any of their acting work to date, so maybe the film could've been better casted, or the screenwriter(s) could've given everyone in the picture a little more to do-?? Thumbs down, unfortunately..