An Early Pusher 3 Review!

Gah! Two people in one day have written in about Pusher 3! Must ... see .... this .... film ...

Johan from Sweden was kind enough to send in a quick review of the film, so here it is in all its glory. Check out the trailer (downloadable Quicktime) then proceed on in.

Hi!

Since you seem to be a fan of Nicholas Winding Refn and the Pusher films. I thought you might like toknow what Pusher 3 is like.

There might be some slight spoilers in here so proceed at your own risk.

It premiered yesterday at the launch party for the Copenhagen Film Festival, and all the usual suspects were there. As a HUGE fan of Refn´s work I'd taken the train from Sweden to check out the third installment of what I think are some the greatest films ever produced in Europe. At first I was hesitant of Pusher 2 and 3, they came rather suddenly after the financial flop (but great movie) that was Fear X. I was a bit worried that Refn was doing this to get money to do Billy´s People (that now seems to be in backburner to his viking epic) but Pusher 2 blew me away. In my mind it´s a better film than 1 and almost as good as his masterpiece Bleeder. Now I´m afraid that my worries were somewhat true.

Pusher 3 is not a bad film in any way, it just hasn´t that gutchurning feel of 1 and 2. And I think it has a lot to do with making the film about Milo. He´s just too well liked by both audiences and (I think) the director himself. Also, he´s a shell of his old self in this movie; his drug problem is bad, he´s in NA meetings, the kids wanna take his turf, his food takes out his closest men, he´s got his daughter´s birthday to plan etc etc. This all makes him a very tragicomic figure throughout the film but you never really feel for him, he´s more like a caricature. Sure there are some pretty seedy characters in the film but no one with the power or intimidation of Milo in 1 and Smeden in 2. Well except for Radovan who shows up late in the film. In my mind a film about the Radovan character would probably had been better.

The acting in the film is really good. The good thing about Refn is that he´s got a great eye for faces and this film is no exception. Refn himself has really stepped it up directon wise. The movie looks great, and the pace is good for what the movie is, but I guess I just came into the movie expecting to once again be emotionally fucked by these characters but instead it left me a bit unfullfilled.

There are some very good scenes in the movie, especially the interaction between Milo and his daughter, but for me it never managed to pull me in like the other two. Maybe it didn´t help watching the film with a pretty drunk crowd (free beer and whiskey before the film), there was a great buzz but it led to some pretty heavy laughter during some of the more powerful scenes of the movie. Or then again maybe it´s just me who doesn't find underage trafficking funny.

I think some of my dissapointment lies in that I was expecting a whole diffrent movie, and the VERY high expectations I had of it. So I´ll see it again at its next showing on the 25th of August. The Danish premire is now set for the 2nd of September.

I now this is pretty rambling review and I probably should have waited a while, but knowing you´re a fan I wanted to let you know. Feel free to use it on the site if you want, and thanks for the best film blog/website on the net.

Take care

Johan