The plot
The recently released film ‘Headhunters’ is a fast-moving thriller adapted from a novel by Jo Nesbo, the Norwegian crime writer who is giving Swedish author, Stieg Larsson, a run for his money.
Headhunters is narrated by the suave, secretive and vertically-challenged business executive, Roger Brown, whose physical shortcomings have driven him to lead a double life of crime in order to keep his trophy wife, Diana, in designer clothes and expensive jewellery.
She is a beautiful Amazonian blonde who is several inches taller than him. The insecure Roger subsidises the fashionable Oslo art gallery that she runs and has also furnished her with a fabulous state-of-the-art modernist house in order to complete the picture of the ideal couple who has everything.
Roger, meanwhile, has a highly-paid job as a headhunter, recruiting senior managers for leading international corporations. More significantly, to finance his extravagant lifestyle, he has a lucrative sideline stealing works of art with the help of a cheerful crook employed by a security firm.
Therefore, Roger cleverly uses the headhunting information that he obtains on candidates’ personal lives to case the homes of rich, middle-class applicants who own valuable paintings.
But Roger’s seemingly foolproof plan starts to disintegrate when Clas Greve comes on the scene. Apparently between jobs, Greve says that he recently worked for a major military contractor.
Roger seeks him out to work for Oslo-based conglomerate Pathfinder, but also sees him as a potential target after Greve lets slip that he owns a valuable Rubens. Needless to say, however, Greve is not all that he seems but, because this is an action thriller with a moral, everyone gets their just deserts in the end.
Reviewer’s rating
Although I’m a headhunter myself, I was able to watch Headhunters without being reminded too much of my day-job. Roger’s character and the way in which he operated were pretty far removed from any of the executive search consultants that I’ve ever known!
If there was a message to be taken away from this film though, it’s a reminder that headhunters and search consultants should always show integrity, be honest with candidates and never, ever attempt to outwit or dupe them.
Overall, the story was a fast-moving one, which had lots going on and a plot that kept you guessing right until the end. Although a bit far-fetched in places, it had me laughing out loud and so I’d give it four stars out of five for pure entertainment value. If you can’t make it to the cinema, definitely catch it on DVD.
- Our reviewer this time was Pauline Wood, managing director of specialist retail headhunters, court & spark consulting.
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