False Trail (2011)

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

This Swedish detective mystery is a film which is a sequel to a 90's movie I haven't actually seen, so I can't say how this one measures up against the original. Nevertheless, what can be said with certainty is this is another Scandinavian film which falls comfortably under the Nordic noir bracket. Like other north European thrillers, this one covers some dark and disturbing territory. A Stockholm police detective is sent to a small rural community to help solve the case of a missing girl, presumed murdered. He finds his more methodical methods at odds with the style of the lead police officer assigned to the case, a man who happens to be married to his widowed sister-in-law and who is now the father to his nephew.This is another solid bit of Nordic noir, yet I would classify it as a lesser example of the sub-genre. While it is undoubtedly a compelling enough crime story, the resolution to the mystery isn't perhaps very surprising and revealed quite early at that. This is compounded further by the film being a little overlong at two hours plus, given its quite basic and relatively straightforward narrative, while the final confrontation sequence was a bit too much in standard thriller territory and felt like a bit of a let-down for me. I did think the acting was very good though and the sense of place a strong point typical for these types of features. I could just have done with a little more meat to the mystery. Still, my criticisms are still only relative to the generally high quality of recent Scandinavian crime films overall, as this remains a pretty solid mystery-thriller nevertheless. Aside from the crime story, there are family and city versus small town complications added to the mix and which do expand the drama. Overall, I would classify this as a good film as opposed to being a great one though.

FALSE TRAIL, a Swedish slice of crime noir, is a follow up to 1996's THE HUNTERS, and sees returning protagonist Erik Backstrom (Rolf Lassgard) back to solve more crimes in the chilly Scandinavian wilderness. Well, it took them fifteen years to make a sequel, but the wait was worth it: I find this to be a superior follow up in terms of excitement, thriller aspects, and pacing.THE HUNTERS was a similarly-plotted story but had a different style of execution: it was darker, more of a family tragedy, and rather depressing. FALSE TRAIL is equally dark but has more of a conventional detective feel to it, a battle of wits between good and evil. Some viewers will find it the lesser piece, but I preferred it. It helps that Peter Stormare (FARGO) has a huge and complex role and is absolutely fantastic in it, the best work yet I've seen from the actor.Inevitably, the taciturn and grumpy Backstrom is the film's guiding force, and Lassgard is a delight to watch as ever. The production values are better than ever, and Kjell Sundvall seems to have really grown as a director, crafting a well-polished and exciting thriller in which the stakes are never less than high. Unpredictable, involving, and harrowing, FALSE TRAIL is one to watch.

There's been 15 years since the first "Jegerne" ("The Hunters), and it's very understandable that there was to be a follow up many years later. This is the finest of thrillers made by the Swedes. Kjell Sundvall has directed both, and that's probably why both th first and the second is almost equally good. The story is different, of course, but the feel and the tension is the same. The film never slips when it comes to make a tense feeling.This is the most true of sequels. We meet the same people 15 years later, where a policeman's family was involved in a murder. All these years later he is ordered back, after a young girl has gone missing.Both films is kept in the same tone. This is brilliantly done. It makes a kind of rural tension. Somewhere where bans between village people are so tight that no one dares speak up. We're in the rural North of Sweden, where hunting is an everyday event. The film depicts the nature and landscape in a beautiful way, and weaves this into the story.We feel the tension all along, and this tension is what makes the films such a treat. The actors are great, where both Rolf Lassgård and Peter Stormare are as good here as in the first. Fine actors. The first film was never forgotten. Not even outside of Sweden. That's why many also was drawn to this continuation many years later. It could've all gone wrong, this follow up. It doesn't, due to fine script writing, great acting, good instruction as well as the Swedish nature.

Jägarna 2 is a pleasant example of famous Swedish crime thrillers: a gloomy policeman with personal issues, slow pace of events, crimes/misdemeanors related to closed societies, long frames of magnificent local nature. However, I could guess the evildoer's person rather soon and, in my submission, he could have been disclosed at the later stage or even in the very beginning. The two leading actors - Rolf Lassgård and Peter Stormare - are great; I think, for me it is the first film with Stormare performing in his native language. The other actors are good as well, but not very catchy, especially the female ones. Moreover, the film could have been shorter and with more sophisticated ending, but still: it is recommended to those fond of Scandinavian Wallander and Beck types of thrillers.