Easy Money (2012)

One of my all time favorites.

Good concept, poorly executed.

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

This movie is the proof that in some -though rare- occasions the film adaptation of a book is better than the novel itself. ''Snabba Cash'' is based on the trilogy of crime novels written by one of the most successful criminal defense attorneys in today's Stockholm, Jens Lapidus, so there are two more films (Snabba Cash 2-''Hard To Kill'' and Snabba Cash 3-''Life Deluxe''). The writer's invaluable professional experiences and communication with real criminals benefit the realism element in the book and is reflected both in the wonderful descriptions of Stockholm's ugly side as well as the ''natural'' dialogues. As far as the film is concerned I believe that the first one is the best of the three, directed by Daniel Espinoza (''Den fördömde'', ''Child 44'') and starring a wonderful cast with Joel Kinnaman (JW), Dragomir -''Gago''- Mrsic (Mrado) and Cristian Varela (Jorge) as the three main protagonists. The movie is a penetrative look at Stockholm's underbelly nowadays, following the lives of JW, a young lad from Sweden's countryside who uses his bright mind in order to invade Stockholm's aristocrats' social circle, Mrado who is a Serbian mafioso and enforcer with a little daughter and finally Jorge, a Latin immigrant who manages to escape from prison and frantically search an effective way in order to make easy money. The lives of those three intersect and a well-crafted plot, which remains faithful to the book, is beginning to unfold in front of the reader's eyes. This is a fast-paced film with some action and really great characters: Mrado is more than convincing as the Yugoslavian thug causing pain and disaster as Dragomir Mrsic (who was himself a bank robber, arrested at 1990 and sentenced to three and a half years of incarceration in Hall prison) delivers a totally brilliant performance which shows that the Bosnia and Herzegovina born actor has a lot of potentials. His acting is one of the -many- highlights of the film while both Kinnaman and Varela deliver more than satisfying performances of their roles. I would also like to mention Dejan Cukic who is terrific in a rather brief appearance, incarnating the Serbian mob boss Radovan.''Snabba Cash'' is a fast-tempo modern-day film which proves that Europeans can produce great films of the crime genre. This is an absolute must-see for all crime fiction addicts.

EASY MONEY is a highly effective slice of Scandi crime drama that blows the socks off the Hollywood competition. It's a film responsible for introducing new talent to the international scene in the form of lead Joel Kinnaman (who went on to be the new ROBOCOP) and director Daniel Espinosa (who went on to direct the Denzel Washington thriller SAFE HOUSE on the strength of this).The story is a complex but watchable one that tells of various competing criminal factions seeking to control the local drug supply. The mix of amoral characters is what makes this film feel unique; the hero is anything but heroic, merely out to save his own skin, and thus has a kind of vibrant realism missing from all those goody two-shoes in Hollywood flicks. Plus, Dragomir Mrsic's Serbian hit-man is good enough to deserve a film all to himself, and really helps to add quality to the film.Epinosa's direction is another strength as he forgoes the typical dark and dingy look of a Scandinavian crime flick and instead creates a bright, colourful and beautiful look for the film. I had the pleasure of seeing this in high definition and it really looks a treat. EASY MONEY isn't an action film or a thriller packed with suspense scenes, but the quality of the script and plotting mean you'll be glued to the screen as if it were. Bring on the sequel!

Does story believability not count for anything for folks who gave this movie a 10? I left after the following things took place on screen: 1. Prior to a visit to a Swedish prison a visitor is seen putting stiletto-like knives in the bottom of his shoes. He gets into the prison, circa 2010 (which doesn't have metal detector machines) and then walks into a large exercise yard seemingly dressed like many of the prison inmates exercising. He makes contact with the convict he plans on helping escape, clumsily knocks over a single guard and then the two of them race to a tall metal fence adorned by razor wire on the top. (Perhaps the guards in the yard and in the towers were on a union-sanctioned break and weren't allowed to pursue the escapees since no one appeared to be chasing the two.) Not wounded by the razor wire the two escape and are not recaptured. 2. Later on in the movie the cab driver who was covertly following pursuer two, who in turn had caught the one main prison escapee, discovers the escapees semi-automatic handgun on a forest's floor. How did the gun get there? Was the owner not searched by the two men who were intent on beating him to death? Why didn't the cab driver pick the gun up? After these two inanities took place I decided to not watch anymore of what I found to be a confusing movie up till then to begin with. P.S. In reading about "Easy Money" I learned that this was the second movie in a planned trilogy. Perhaps the filmmakers should have had a synopsis precede the escape to help viewers like me understand what had happened before. Having said this though, the two story lapses still stand out as un-thought out mistakes.

When I first watched this I had no idea this was going to become a trilogy. I'm pretty sure the original filmmakers didn't expect this to become one either. I didn't feel there was something impending that would spawn two sequels to this. Nothing serious at least, because (almost) every movie could be followed up by something.The main actor here is really good and has to pull off a really vicious and mean turn. But he succeeds in doing so. The action is more than decent, but it's more the thrill and the overall sense the movie embodies that will get you on the edge of your seat (probably). Good acting overall of course and a very good direction (no wonder Hollywood called and the director went on to work with Denzel Washington on Safe House)