It's important to note, when looking at the reviews and comments on this movie, that nearly all of them were written more than a decade ago. At the time, news media and the entertainment industry were just waking up to the new crime waves from Eastern Europe, and speculations and predictions were wildly out of proportion. This movie is a good example of that, and while it probably seemed somewhat realistic at the time, watching it for the first time 12 years later means almost two hours of facepalming.Another funny thing is that of this first trilogy of Johan Falk movies, only the first one holds up today. "Noll tolerans" was a tight, domestic thriller, and while suffering from some genre clichés, it could very nearly have been produced today. The next two, "Livvakterna" and this one, simply come across as sensationalist speculations run amok. Wildly inaccurate numbers and absurd conjecture are painfully present throughout. Yes, financial organized crime was and is of course a large and real international problem, but neither the European governments or society as we know it fell, as this movie would have us believe. If you're just getting into the Johan Falk movies, I'd recommend you watch the first one and then move on to the 2009 installments. This initial trilogy is in many ways a set of relatively well made thrillers, but their wildly distorted look at contemporary events come across as mostly embarrassing today.

This is quite a fascinating movie. These days it came as add-on with TVmovie magazine (Germany), which lowers the threshold to get it for EUR 3.50.It's documented as a Swedish/Finnish co-production. I didn't see a Finnish angle, but the Swedish is strong, even though the movie hardly ever plays in Sweden: the hero and family, as well as Rebecca the heroine, and Sellberg the short-lived commander, and the female officer in Göteborg, all come from there.Action happens in UK, Netherlands, Germany, going south (from Swedish point of view) ever more. And going badder. "There's no place like home" (Sweden: for feeling secure, or burying commanders), and all other Europe is a battleground between toothless Europol and privatized security firm EuroSec (which in London has 20 times worth the equipment of City Police).I felt scared by the seemingly uncontrollable powers of EuroSec (and their runaways). If this corporate security firm can overwhelm police, a fundamental concept breaks away. In the end, the bad guys lose. But will something like this happen again? You bet...Certainly not a perfect movie, but very thought-provoking. The Munich riot was over-the-top, as mentioned before, but seems to get closer to the reality of EU/G8/... summits (rubber bullets are still only discussed, but not used by German police yet). I can at least recommend this to European viewers: a decent action movie with deeper context.

My summary says it all: I accidentally switched to that movie on TV and got intrigued by the sinister atmosphere and some compelling characters.However, the movie loses much of its drive, ambition and suspense in the chaotic and over-the-top showdown, where literally everybody gets randomly shot and a clear plot is not in sight anymore. In addition, the violent demos that serve as a welcome excuse for chaos never would happen that heavily in any Western European city - pure science-fiction. One of the weakest showdowns I have seen in a while, which is a shame for such a great beginning.

In The Hague, Holland, the new chief of Europol Sellberg (Lennart Hjulström) broadcasts a tough speech against the third wave of crimes in Europe, promising to suffocate the schemes of powerful criminals. He invites his former detective and friend Johan Falk (Jakob Eklund) for a meeting, with the intention to join him to his team. Meanwhile, the executive Rebecca (Irina Björklund) accidentally opens one correspondence of her mate, Kane (Ben Pullen), and finds that he cleans illegal money for European mobsters. When she decides to disclose her discoveries to Europol, his life is jeopardized by the associates of her boy-friend, but Rebecca is rescued by Johan. They have to fight against the organized crime to save their lives and Johan's family.I decided to watch "Den Tredje Vågen" on video to kill time in the rainy Saturday's afternoon in Rio de Janeiro. I love European movies, but due to the lack of tradition in the action genre, I had minor expectation with this film. However, this movie is a surprisingly good Swedish-British thriller, full of action and usual exaggeration of the Hollywood films. The absolutely unknown cast has great performances, the Swedish Irina Björklund is very gorgeous and "Den Tredje Vågen" is an excellent entertainment. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Garras da Corrupção" ("Claws of the Corruption")