FILM REVIEWS

“Easy Money,” an exciting Swedish crime thriller, directed by Daniel Espinosa (“Safe House”), reaffirms the status of the filmmaker as a major talent to watch.

The film is presented by Martin Scorsese, and distributed by the Weinstein Company stateside, after playing successfully in many European countries.

I have not read the international best-selling nove,l Snabba Cash by Jens Lapidus, upon which the movie is based, but all I can say that it’s way above the routine American crime flick in every respect, plot, characterization, technical execution, and suspenseful action set-pieces.

The protagonist is a lower-class business student named JW (Joel Kinnaman, known from AMC’s TV series, ‘The Killing’), who falls in love with a sexy heiress while living a double life mingling with Stockholm’s wealthy elite.

To keep up the façade of his lifestyle, he’s lured into a world of crime and sells himself to the devil.  Jorge is a petty fugitive on the run from the both the police and Serbian mafia.  He hopes that brokering a massive cocaine deal will allow him to escape for good.

Meanwhile, Mafia enforcer Mrado is on the hunt for Jorge, but his efforts are complicated when he’s unexpectedly saddled with caring for his young daughter.  As JW’s journey ventures deeper into the dark world of organized crime, the fate of all three men becomes entangled, leading to an exciting climax, a dramatic struggle for life and death.