Considering the number of car crashes, boats being blown up, shots fired etc, it was a bit too close to Jan de Bont's film Speed as an action thriller, but still I quite enjoyed this film, especially as I live in Amsterdam and had fun spotting local landmarks. The plot was quite good - mute girl lost in big city runs into trouble and can't ask for help but must fend for herself - although Jennifer Tilly's performance as the over-anxious mother was too silly for words. Dick Maas should have known better, as a Dutch director, to use Tilly as a mouthpiece for erroneous myths about the Netherlands being full of lawless drug dealers.
Some flaws - how come the mute girl was able to understand the Dutch dealer in the boat when he asks her old she is? He wouldn't have known she wasn't Dutch-speaking. Also the climatic chase sequence (some of which I saw being filmed incidentally) was very cut-and-paste in terms of logical progression through the streets. Those of us who know Amsterdam were astonished to see Hartman heading for the Central station one minute and only seconds later being completely on the other side of town in the Vondelpark. It's as if Maas was determined to cram in as many landmarks as possible!
Flaws aside, it was a good old-fashioned action romp in many ways with some deft touches of humour and it was nice spotting some of the local personalities regularly seen around town. Good fun but don't expect any big statements!
Some flaws - how come the mute girl was able to understand the Dutch dealer in the boat when he asks her old she is? He wouldn't have known she wasn't Dutch-speaking. Also the climatic chase sequence (some of which I saw being filmed incidentally) was very cut-and-paste in terms of logical progression through the streets. Those of us who know Amsterdam were astonished to see Hartman heading for the Central station one minute and only seconds later being completely on the other side of town in the Vondelpark. It's as if Maas was determined to cram in as many landmarks as possible!
Flaws aside, it was a good old-fashioned action romp in many ways with some deft touches of humour and it was nice spotting some of the local personalities regularly seen around town. Good fun but don't expect any big statements!