The Threat (2004)

So much average

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

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

The start of this thriller is great. Just like a Hollywood production we taken right into a defense training facility, where there's high stakes about future technology. Another of Swedish director Kjell Sundvall's thriller, which is from the rural parts of Northern Sweden, just like his best, the classic "The hunters" from 1996. This however is rated one of his lowest here on IMDb.It starts great off, and it's easy to follow the plot. But wherein lies this film's problem? Some of the actors are doing a great job, like mother and wife Maria Bonnevie, The major Stefan Sauk and the bad guy Dejan Cukic. But main character Lasse is really overplayed by otherwise well playing Shanti Roney. He is overly nervous all the time. So much that it gets annoying. Maybe this is the instruction he is given, maybe to Be obvious to foreign audience? Who knows, but this is a major problem for the film, which he carries on his shoulders, as the main person.However, this is not worse than we've seen in Hollywood thrillers, without it being punished with bad reviews from the watchers. I think the film keep your interest, like Sundvall's films always do, so it's still an OK film to watch for entertainment

** HERE BE SPOILERS **Recap: Lasse (Rooney) lives an happy easy life together with wife Inger (Bonnevie) and son Niklas (Zuber). He works at military base Vidsel as a technician. The base is currently conducting tests of new systems and security is tight. For instance has Maj. Haglund (Sauk) from military intelligence arrived. Lasse is kidnapped by Jacek (Cukic) and his entire family and relatives threatened if Lasse does not comply and place a transmitter in some systems that these agents want. This pressure wreaks havoc within his family and when Lasse finally complies, something goes wrong. Base security is alerted and especially Haglund smells foul play. But the tests must go on, and the agents pressure upon Lasse increases. At the same time Haglund is relieved from the case, and goes on a personal hunt.Comments: I feel that there are ambitions in this movie. The general idea in the plot and story is fairly good. There are some small twists and turns. Special effects and use of fighters are extensive and good. Sauk is good as Haglund, but other characters seem to overact to much to leave an credible impression. Then there are numerous small, but sometimes annoying glitches in the plot were it seems better to do something else or the characters actions are inconsistent. Those small minor flaws do add up to a whole flawed impression. However, an entertaining movie and a big improvement compared to Swedish movies from a couple of years ago...5/10

As an employee of the Swedish Air Force I enjoyed the nice Gripen and Hkp 9 (MBB Bo 105) flight scenes in this movie. One of the few disappointments was the EWS 39 jammer pod, in this case an inert Rb 75 (Maverick) missile painted black with the letters "EWS 39" in white along the side. Real jammer pods definitely do not look like that, at least not the ones I've seen.But apart from that, it's an entertaining movie with a very amusing ending (the last minute). Anyone interested in seeing various Swedish military units, including the now-legendary SSG, on film should see this one.

I did not set very high expectations for this movie, which left me pleasantly surprised. The story is a little strange sometimes but overall I think it has an acceptable credibility. The action scenes are rather nice and the accompanying music is used to induce a a bit of patriotic feelings common to US movies. This may not be the best movie ever but it's uncommon for Sweden and I hope to see more similar ones in the future.