The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

When I watched the American Contraband movie, I had no idea it was based on this movie, because I hadn't watched it back then. Of course the minute Contraband came out on DVD some clever marketing guy thought of releasing this movie too and label it with the tag "movie Contraband was based on". Since I liked the the other Contraband, I thought I'd give it a try.And it is more than apparent that Contraband uses most of this movie as a blueprint. This one though, is leaner and faster. A frenetic pace that might leave some people behind. I like it when people can tell you the same thing, but quicker.. In this case though the remake did improve on some points. One of them is the ending. It doesn't make any sense, even if it is meant to be a joke, they should know better than that. The relationships get explored more in the remake, which on the downside make them a bit cheesy of course.Tough to say what you might like more. I always think it's good to see the original first and then the remake. But that is up to you.

What begins as what seems to be a calm conversation over a cigarette between three young men, the opening scene of Reykjavik Rotterdam, directed by Oskar Jonasson (2008), quickly turns into one of the young men frantically running for his life from his two cigarette "friends." Unfortunately, Arnor failed to escape the two bruisers and gets a good beating. The reason for his overly hostile reprimand is because of a recent botched smuggling of alcohol, a job given to Arnor from his brother in law and former alcohol smuggler himself and main character, Kristofer. Since Kristofer vouched for Arnor to do the job, he has feelings of guilt and a sense of responsibility for his brother in law and his well-being. Struggling for money and the fact that he is an experienced and savvy smuggler himself, Kristofer is suspiciously roped into coming out of retirement for another alcohol smuggling affair to Rotterdam by his wife's ex boyfriend, Steingrimur, who seems to have an ulterior motive for pressuring Kristofer into doing the job. To his family's dismay, Kristofer accepts the job and boards a cargo ship with old crew members that are in on the smuggling as well. The captain of the cargo ship is anything but happy when he learns of Kristofer's presence on his ship, and is determined to catch he and other crew members in the act. Back in Reykjavik, Steingrimur's incessant scheming begins to feel routine when finally his real motive is revealed; he wants Kristofer to get caught in the act of smuggling alcohol because he knows that if he does, Kristofer will be in jail for a long time and in Steingrimur's mind that will surely lead to his eventual rekindled relationship with his ex girlfriend, which he will stop at nothing to achieve. A couple shootouts and even more fairly ridiculous twists set the stage for the rest of the rest of the film as the plot begins to unfold.Undoubtedly, there are various underlying themes beneath this Icelandic action-thriller. One of which is that of "class lines" and the vast difference between the "haves" and the "have nots". It is easy to see that Kristofer is struggling to make ends meet with a wife and two kids to support in addition to his criminal record of the past. Kristofer and his family already live in a very confined space and there is even a possibility of being evicted, in which case they may have to live with relatives, borrow money, or downgrade further yet regarding housing. On the other hand, Steingrimur represents the "haves" in this film. He is portrayed as a businessman type with money not being a problem in his life, and carries himself in a way that people will know that he is well off. Even more evident is his egotistical nature while at the same time has the ability to "kindly" manipulate situations in order to achieve what he wants. Although Steingrimur is better off monetary wise, Kristofer hands down has the edge in character. Even though both Steingrimur and Kristofer are criminals, Kristofer is solely in it for the money that is needed to support his financially struggling family, but the same can not be said for Steingrimur.Another strong theme present in Reykjavik Rotterdam I believe is that of love, and how love can drive anybody to do things they normally would never do. Case in point: a successful person like Steingrimur would normally never plot to have his ex girlfriend's husband imprisoned for the sole and self-centered purpose of ending up with Iris. However, his love for Iris drives him to do more than just set up Kristofer. He lies, manipulates, and commits serious crimes, all in the name of love. This eventually leads to irony when, after going through all that trouble to have Iris to himself, he is the one who accidentally kills Iris in a heated rage after his intentions and actions are put into question. Equally as evident is Kristofer's love for Iris and his children. He loves them dearly, and as a man does not want to have to borrow money in order to support the people he loves. But, because he loves his wife and kids, he will do nearly anything is order to support them and simply be together as a family.Overall, the film was very enjoyable to watch and see how the plot unfolded. Even better was the random comic lines and scenes that added another great aspect to the film, which along with the action and unique story line undoubtedly kept my attention throughout the entire film. My only caveat was that there were a few scenes as well as a twist that seemed just a tad bit unbelievable, but what's a movie without a little bit of over the top drama? It sure got sucked me in hook, line, and sinker. Other than that, I truly enjoyed the film as a whole and would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys a thriller with great acting, and not solely for international cinema guru's. 9 out of 10 stars.

I was very impressed with the film Reykjavik-Rotterdam. Just from the moment that I saw the trailer, I knew that I had to see this movie, and I was absolutely right! This movie offers you everything you need; Excitement, laughter, drama, you name it! The actors do a fantastic job, especially Baltasar Kormákur who is better known as a director but proves it in this movie that he is a fantastic actor as well. Ingvar E. Sigurðsson, one of Iceland's most beloved actors, is extremely convincing in his role as Baltasar's "friend" and I must say that I feel like all the actors just do a fantastic job. Most Icelandic movies, such as Baltasar's "Brúðguminn", I feel that are only fun for people from Iceland. However, this movie, Reykjavik-Rotterdam, can amuse everybody, and I can definitely say that it's just as good as many Hollywood thrillers I've seen. Try to find this movie and check it out, you won't be disappointed!

I'm not going to spoil anything. So I won't go into any details about the story. I hate when people do that.Here we have an Icelandic thriller that kept you excited right from the beginning to the very end. I absolutely loved the story, it was fresh and original and distinctively better than most Icelandic films that have tried to depict the dark side of Reykjavík (Iceland's capital). Looking back at films made over 10 years ago, such as "Nei er ekkert svar", it's simply astounding to see how far Icelandic film making has come. This really is an A-level action thriller which I found to be more entertaining than most movies in the similar genre I've seen during the past months. I think the director did an excellent job and Baltasar Kormákur should seriously consider acting more alongside directing because he shows and proves it beyond any doubt that he is one of Iceland's greatest actors. Iceland could of course use more actors because you kind of see the same faces over and over again, every time a film is made. However, when a film is as well casted as this one, one forgets that very quickly. All characters had found their way to just the right people. I must give kudos to Baltasar, Lilja, Ingvar, Þröstur, Ólafur, Jörundur, Victor... Jeez, just all of you. Thank you for a superb film.Highly recommended, see it as soon as possible.