''Kidnapping Freddy Heineken'' (U.S. title ''Kidnapping Mr. Heineken'') is a 2015 British-Dutch

crime drama Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...

film directed by

Daniel Alfredson Hans Daniel Björn Alfredson (born 23 May 1959 in Stockholm, Sweden) is a Swedish film director who is best known for directing film versions of two parts of the '' Millennium Trilogy'': '' The Girl Who Played with Fire'' and '' The Girl Wh ...

based on the 1983 kidnapping of Freddy Heineken. The screenplay, based on the 1987 book by

Peter R. de Vries Peter Rudolf de Vries (14 November 1956 – 15 July 2021) was a Dutch Investigative journalism, investigative journalist and crime reporter. His television program (''Crime Reporter''; 1995–2012) covered high-profile cases and set a Dutch te ...

, was written by William Brookfield. The role of Freddy Heineken is played by

Anthony Hopkins Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins (born 31 December 1937) is a Welsh actor. Considered one of Britain's most recognisable and prolific actors, he is known for List of Anthony Hopkins performances, his performances on the screen and stage. Hopkins ha ...

, with

Sam Worthington Samuel Henry John Worthington (born 2 August 1976) is an Australian actor. He is known for playing Jake Sully in the ''Avatar'' franchise (2009–present), Marcus Wright in '' Terminator Salvation'' (2009), and Perseus in '' Clash of the Titan ...

Willem Holleeder Willem Frederik Holleeder (born 29 May 1958) is a Dutch gangster, outlaw biker and convicted criminal. He is nicknamed ''De Neus'' (''The Nose'') because of the size of his nose. In 1983, Holleeder was sentenced to eleven years' imprisonment fo ...

Jim Sturgess James Anthony Sturgess''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916–2005.''; at ancestry.com (born 16 May 1978) is an English actor and singer-songwriter. His first major role was as Jude in the musical romance drama film ''Acros ...

as Cor van Hout,

Ryan Kwanten Ryan Christian Kwanten (born 28 November 1976) is an Australian actor and producer. He played Vinnie Patterson from 1997 to 2002 in the Australian soap opera ''Home and Away''. After his stint ended, he joined the American teen drama series '' ...

as Jan Boellaard, Thomas Cocquerel as Martin Erkamps and Mark van Eeuwen as Frans Meijer.

Plot

In 1983

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, wannabe gangster friends

, Cor van Hout, Jan Boellard, Martin Erkamps, and Frans Meijer kidnap

Heineken Heineken Lager Beer (), or simply Heineken (), is a Dutch pale lager beer with 5% alcohol by volume produced by the Dutch brewing company Heineken N.V. Heineken beer is sold in a green bottle with a red star. History On 15 February 1864, ...

owner Freddy Heineken in an attempt to obtain a high

ransom Ransom refers to the practice of holding a prisoner or item to extort money or property to secure their release. It also refers to the sum of money paid by the other party to secure a captive's freedom. When ransom means "payment", the word ...

for his return. Heineken's family pays the ransom, he is released and Willem and Cor flee to Paris and go into hiding. Cor calls his wife Sonja, leading to the kidnappers' capture.

Cast

as Freddy Heineken *

as Cor van Hout *

as Jan Boellard *

Jemima West Jemima West (born 11 August 1987) is a French-English actress. She is bilingual and mostly grew up in Paris. She is best known for playing Isabelle Lightwood in the film adaptation of '' The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones'' and Alice Whelan i ...

as Sonja Holleeder *

Thomas Cocquerel Thomas Michel Cocquerel (born 5 September 1989) is an Australian actor. On television, he is known for his role as Tom Raikes in Julian Fellowes' HBO Max series ''The Gilded Age (TV series), The Gilded Age'' (2022). His films include ''OtherLife' ...

as Martin Erkamps * Mark van Eeuwen as Frans Meijer *

David Dencik Karl David Sebastian Dencik (; born 31 October 1974) is a Swedish-Danish actor. He has acted in both Swedish and Danish films, his break-through in Sweden being his role in the mini-series '' Lasermannen'' and has then had major roles in English- ...

as Ab Doderer *

Billy Slaughter William H. Slaughter is an American film and television actor, best known for his roles in '' The Big Short'', '' The Magnificent Seven'', '' The Campaign,'' Netflix's '' Mindhunter'', Anne Rice's '' Mayfair Witches'', and Marvel's '' Cloak & ...

as Junior Officer *

Eric Godon Eric Godon (born 7 February 1959) is a Belgian character actor, director and writer. Recognisable by his burly appearance and deep voice, he is perhaps best known in English language circles, for his roles in ''In Bruges'', and '' The Missing'' ...

as The cop

Production

Filming began in Belgium in October 2013. Most of the outside action scenes were filmed on location in Amsterdam.

Reception

''Kidnapping Mr. Heineken'' received generally unfavourable reviews from critics. The film has a 33/100 score at

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

and a 19% score at

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

. The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' commented, "Despite its true-events pedigree, ''Kidnapping Mr. Heineken'' is woefully captive to B-movie crime saga tropes." ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' wrote, "About as appealing as day-old beer littered with cigarette butts, the abysmal caper drama ''Kidnapping Mr. Heineken'' is one of those international co-productions produced for all the right tax-credit reasons and none of the right artistic ones."

Frank Scheck Frank Scheck is an American film critic. He is best known for his reviews in the ''New York Post'' and ''The Hollywood Reporter''. He formerly edited ''STAGES Magazine'' and worked as a theater critic for the ''Christian Science Monitor ''Th ...

of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' wrote, "By the time the relatively brief but seemingly interminable proceedings reach their conclusion, viewers may feel like they've been held hostage themselves." Conversely,

Rex Reed Rex Taylor Reed (born October 2, 1938) is an American film critic, journalist, and media personality. Raised throughout the southern United States and educated at Louisiana State University, Reed moved to New York City in the early 1960s to begi ...

of ''

The New York Observer ''The New York Observer'' was a weekly newspaper established in 1987. In 2016, it ceased print publication and became the online-only newspaper ''Observer''. The media site focuses on culture, real estate, media, politics and the entertainment ...

'' gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, and commented, "Anthony Hopkins plays the king of the hops, and he is excellent. So is the rest of the movie, a sober, no-frills account about the highest ransom ever collected up to that time—$10 million and counting."

References

External links

* * {{Daniel Alfredson 2015 films 2015 crime drama films British crime drama films Dutch crime drama films Crime drama films based on actual events English-language Dutch films Films directed by Daniel Alfredson Films set in the Netherlands Films set in Amsterdam Films shot in Amsterdam Films about hostage taking Films set in 1983 Films scored by Lucas Vidal Films based on non-fiction books Films based on works by Dutch writers 2010s English-language films 2010s British films English-language crime drama films A-Film Distribution films