This movie was quite down to earth, better than I expected. Childhood friends know each other well and their emotions. A decision is made to kidnap Mr. Heineken (Anthony Hopkins). All goes well, but as the days and weeks go by waiting for the ransom and to go back to a "normal life" everything starts to unravel. Mr. Heineken does not seem like he has been the kidnapped. Immediately he plays upon his capture's emotions, even saying that one cannot have friendship and money at the same time. This is exactly what happens to the kidnappers, leading to their capture and ruining their friendship. Mr. Heineken had really been control all along. He makes it his personal mission to get the kidnappers, not for their actual crine but because they dared to slight him and his money and power.

'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.

For Once, Film Critics and Audiences Agreed across the board that this is one of the most Boring Crime Films Ever Produced on this level. The Acting, Action, and Story are so Literal and Lackluster one wonders Who Thought this Thing was worth Making or Releasing.It is so Matter of Fact and Unexciting. The Robbery to get the Money to Finance the Kidnapping is Frantic, Hyper-Edited with Everyone Shouting and Flailing about. It is just Painful to Watch.Then the Bickering starts to fulfill the "Mr. Heineken" Tagline. "One can have Money or Friends, but can't have both." Wow. How's that for Deep. All Backstories of All Involved in the Plot Dangle and Go Nowhere.The Film is Rendered with a Confusing Conclusion after the 90 Awful Minutes it took to get there. No Closure to Speak of as if the Filmmakers were in a Hurry to get it all Over with as Little Explanation and Ambiguity as Possible. No Suspense, Mysteries Hanging Everywhere, and the Audience Leaves Wondering WTF just happened? The Story, the Actors, and Everyone Involved in Making or Watching this Movie Deserves to be Served Something with More Gusto.

This based upon a true story.Amsterdam, 1983, five construction workers go the bank for a loan to help revive their company, but are turned down. They are at a loss what to do when one of them says they should kidnap Freddy Heineken (Anthony Hopkins), the beer tycoon and get the ransom money. We see the planning, and execution of this plan, which is quite good for these amateurs. They kidnap Mr. Heineken and his chauffeur, Ab (David Denick) and both are well-treated with no harm coming to them. Mr Heineken makes some demands to make his "stay" more comfortable and he gets his way. The rest of the movie shows the five stressing about not getting the money as quickly as they planned. These actors are basically unknown to us and they do a good job. The main problem with this story is a lack of tension. They treat Mr. Heinekin and Ab in good fashion and since we know the ransom will be paid (at the time this was the most money ever paid for a kidnapping: 16-million Euros) we don't see any suspense on the horizon, and we are comfortable with it. What we don't know is how they slipped up and got caught. We have our suspicions how this happened, but we were wrong (as usual) and we are told what happened when the credits run at the end. One fairly good line comes out of this by Mr Heineken as he tries to talk his way out of bondage and he says, "there are two ways a man can be rich in this world; he can have a lot of money or he can have a lot of friends. But he cannot have both." Anthony Hopkins' screen time is short but he makes the most of it and does an excellent job as usual. (7/10)Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: Yes, some not too much.