Unique perspective gives 'Mr. Heineken' extra credit

Mini-review: 'Kidnapping Mr. Heineken'

You'll find various victims of abuse in the straightforward, linear, fact-based crime drama “Kidnapping Mr. Heineken.”

First, the titular abducted beer mogul Freddy Heineken, roughed up and chained to a wall. Then come us moviegoers, pummeled by heavy-handed dialogue.

In 1983, five business associates — street ruffians and buds since childhood — get so down on their luck and income that they dream big to correct their financial situation. As leader of the pack Cor Van Hout (Jim Sturgess) puts it, he has only his liberty left to wager.

So, he and Willem Holleeder (“Avatar” star Sam Worthington) plus three pals kidnap beer mogul Freddy Heineken (Anthony Hopkins) and his chauffeur and hold them in a specially built, soundproof prison. They demand a ransom ($50 million in today's dollars). They get it.

Their operation runs so smoothly that experts declare the Amsterdam crime to be executed undoubtedly by a terrorist group or highly experienced professional kidnappers.

“There are two ways a man can be rich in this world,” Heineken warns Cor. “He can have a lot of money. Or he can have a lot of friends. But he can't have both!”

If you miss this prescient, foreshadowing theme the first time, don't worry. William Brookfield's standard-issue screenplay, based on crime journalist Peter R. de Vries' best-seller, repeats it over the obligatory “what happened to them?” screen slides at the end.

To its credit, “Kidnapping Mr. Heineken” shows us the story strictly from the kidnappers' points of view, as did de Vries' book. We never know when or where the police might catch on.

The production, filmed mostly in Belgium because its locations better replicated 1980s Amsterdam, comes from director Daniel Alfredson, who gave us the two sequels to the original Swedish production of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.”

Alfredson hails mostly from the world of television production, and his movie here possesses the feel and texture of a movie designed for television exhibition, complete with overwritten dialogue that steps into hard-boiled cliché.

“It seems too quiet!” Cor says to Willem when they step into a city street completely cleared of people.

Gee. Ya think? The old “it's too quiet” line hasn't been used in a movie since those “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” poked merciless fun at it way back in 1990.

“Kidnapping Mr. Heineken” opens at the South Barrington 30 Theaters. Rated R for language. 95 minutes. ★ ★