Going by title alone, you’d be forgiven for expecting a set-piece-filled video game spin off. In fact this is a slow burning and underplayed version of real life events, as Norwegian resistance member Max takes on dastardly invading Nazis, in a WWII film that’s a wobbly mix of two-fisted action and true-life consequence.
Askel Hennie makes an impression in the title role, managing to carry off slightly glib scripting with a straight face and grounding what could otherwise be a lightweight boys’ own adventure. Scenes of Max’s early career, engaged in some brutal combat with the Russians, have a wonderfully straightforward edge to them and the Norwegians initial reluctance to adopt Guerilla tactics against occupying Nazi forces, leading to their initial meetings failing miserably, carry some genuine emotional heft.
In fact, the film’s biggest asset is also it’s greatest weakness. At one point, Manus leaps through a window to escape, but rather than escaping Jason Bourne style, he winds up in intensive care for his efforts. This realism is laudable, and the gravity of events certainly shouldn’t be treated lightly but unfortunately the characterisation is more Die Hard than Schindler’s List. All the patriotic shouting makes it hard to identify with the resistance men, but the ambiguous choices they make makes them come off as human and often deeply flawed for all this bravery.
Doing the best they can with a limited budget, Directors Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg utilise some tasteful CGI use that makes the small staged battles suitably epic while the photography is effectively chilly, if a little too enamoured of Saving Private Ryan for it’s own good.
An interesting and very human tale, the film is unbalanced at times but compelling nonetheless and worth dedicating a couple of hours to on a Sunday afternoon.
