Kidnapping Mr. Heineken (2015)

The inside story of the planning, execution, rousing aftermath, and ultimate downfall of the kidnappers of beer tycoon Alfred "Freddy" Heineken, which resulted in the largest ransom ever paid for an individual.

Director:

Daniel Alfredson

Writers:

William Brookfield, Peter R. de Vries (book)

Stars:

Jim Sturgess, Sam Worthington, Ryan Kwanten

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jim Sturgess	...	Cor Van Hout
Sam Worthington	...	Willem Holleeder
Ryan Kwanten	...	Jan 'Cat' Boellard
Anthony Hopkins	...	Freddy Heineken
Mark van Eeuwen	...	Frans 'Spikes' Meijer
Thomas Cocquerel	...	Martin 'Brakes' Erkamps
Jemima West	...	Sonja Holleeder
David Dencik	...	Ab Doderer
Dirk Roofthooft	...	Pa Holleeder
Vera Van Dooren	...	Ma Holleeder
Kat Lindsay	...	Karin
Roy McCrerey	...	Iverson
Vince Canlas	...	Chinese Restaurant Owner
Natalie Mejer	...	French Stewardess
Eric Godon	...	Police Drop Off Driver

Storyline

The inside story of the planning, execution, rousing aftermath, and ultimate downfall of the kidnappers of beer tycoon Alfred "Freddy" Heineken, which resulted in the largest ransom ever paid for an individual.

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Plot Keywords:

car chase | tycoon | beer | ransom | product placement | 

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Taglines:

It was the perfect crime until they got way with it.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language throughout

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [Japan]

Country:

Netherlands Belgium UK USA

Language:

English Dutch German

Release Date:

6 March 2015 (USA)

Also Known As:

Kidnapping Mr. Heineken

Filming Locations:

Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

€21,726 (Netherlands), 28 June 2015, Limited Release

Company Credits

Production Co:

Informant Media,Global Film Partners,Embankment Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Dutch crime reporter and co-Writer Peter R. de Vries did not attend the movie premiere, because he did not agree with the end result. He felt the events depicted in the movie were too different from the actual kidnapping as he had described it in his book. Oddly enough, de Vries had agreed to participate in the making of this movie, because he felt that the first film about the famous kidnapping, De Heineken ontvoering (2011), had not been accurate with many of the historical facts either.

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Goofs

Once Mr Heineken is released, he gives an interview that both kidnappers in Paris are watching. In 1983, French TV was still public and the channels were no more than 3, however the old TV shows a green seven and what's more, the interview with Heineken is in English without subs.

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Quotes

Freddy Heineken: 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.

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Connections

Version of De Heineken ontvoering (2011)

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Soundtracks

You Are The Light
Performed by Evan Olson
Written by Evan Olson
Courtesy of Lovecat Music

User Reviews

The film offers the shallow sense of helplessness and uneasiness as audience watch five aversive men threatening an old man for money and bicker with each other.

How a crime drama with such good cast can be so dull is borderline a crime. The actors are good, but the characters they play have the personality of barren unsympathetic schmucks. The screenplay and conversation are dry, primarily dabbling in curses and complaints for nearly the entire movie. While there are clearly a couple of good moments by the actors, they are too few to sustain interest for the rest of boring banters.

Kidnapping Mr. Heineken is exactly what it advertises, the story of five men who are down on their luck and decide to snatch a billionaire in hope for monetary gain. It's amazing that none of these five character is even close to being relatable. The movie tries to depicts individuals who are pushed to do illegal things, yet they are all manipulative, aggressive and severely lacking empathy.

At latter half they are even interchangeable since everyone has a knack for whining, in exception of Sam Worthington's character who surprises audience with poor and crazy decisions. Probably the best decision the movie did was to put Anthony Hopkins as Heineken in a box and let him do a few monologues. Still, there is no tangible connection between Heineken and the kidnappers, there's not even connection between the kidnappers. When the movie tries to pull friendship theme, it only makes things more awkward.

For action crime, one would expect an intelligent plot, perhaps major twists and thought out plans. There's a barely any level of sophistication here as five of them partially wing it and hope for the best. In fact, most of the times they are just fooling around, laughing annoyingly and verbally abusing each other.

The film offers the shallow sense of helplessness and uneasiness as audience watch five aversive men threatening an old man for money and bicker with each other.