Cop Secret (2021) – Film Review
Director: Hannes Þór Halldórsson
Cast: Auðunn Blöndal, Egill Einarsson & Steinunn Ólína Þorsteinsdóttir
By @Roger Crow
The funniest comedy cop buddy movie from Iceland you’ll see this year, Cop Secret is a welcome antidote to all those generic thrillers churned out by Hollywood over the last few decades.
The likes of Lethal Weapon possibly started the ball rolling in 1987, but seemed to turn into a parody of itself with each sequel. Not that it stopped Samuel L Jackson sending it up in one of his breakthrough films, Loaded Weapon 1.
However, it’s rare that we see this sort of thing spoofed so well (mostly) in another language.
“Stylish”
From that frantic opening chase, in which the bald maverick hero and his fretting overweight partner race after bad guys in a muscle car, the flavour of the movie becomes clear.
The film makers aren’t taking things seriously at all, but they can pull off a pulse-pounding scene as well as any Fast and Furious movie.
It’s stylish, action packed, and that third act is laugh-out-loud funny as the obligatory bald hero comes to terms with his feelings.
The video game-style killings have that odd quality, like a spray of blood suddenly appears. Blood spray seems all the rage in movies these days, strangely. And naturally there’s a scene where the action is intercut with one of those first person shooter games. (Fresh in Grosse Pointe Blank in 1997, but a cliche now, which may be the point).
“Fresh take”
The buddy cop genre has been done to death, so it’s good to see a fresh take on the stereotypical bromance thriller.
I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before director Hannes Þór Halldórsson is snapped up by Hollywood to remake it. If he does, Jason Statham must be a shoo-in for the lead, especially as he was the funniest thing about 2015 comedy Spy.
The Stath must have been the inspiration for this movie, so it would be great to see things go full circle if the US version gets a green light.
Frábær skemmtun (great fun) as they might say in Iceland.
