Headhunters
Magnolia Pictures | Release Date: April 27, 2012 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
72
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 26 Critic Reviews
Positive:
20
Mixed:
6
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranApr 26, 2012
Headhunters is a dark adult entertainment, a wild and bloody adrenaline rush of a movie that deals in gleeful grotesqueness and over-the-top implausibilities. Read full review
90
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternApr 26, 2012
A transgenre thriller that glides effortlessly from crisp social commentary through off-kilter comedy to paranoid terror, it's on my short list of the most enjoyable movies in recent memory. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertMay 9, 2012
It's not often a thriller keeps me wound up as well as Headhunters did. I knew I was being manipulated and didn't care. It was a pleasure to see how well it was being done. Read full review
85
NPRBob MondelloApr 27, 2012
The film has some fairly grisly violence, but also considerable humor and the sort of intricate, thought-through storytelling you'd expect from Hitchcock or the Coen brothers. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubSam AdamsApr 25, 2012
Headhunters' title rapidly turns literal, and what seemed like a lightweight heist thriller careens into a bloody-minded game of cat and mouse. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJun 28, 2012
An absurd amount of grisly fun, which is a good thing, since, looked at in any great detail, it probably doesn't hold up all that well. Read full review
80
The New YorkerAnthony LaneMay 4, 2012
Headhunters is admirably swift in style, and dangerously silly in what it begs us to swallow, but at its heart is a consummate depiction of a permanent type - the proud and prickly male, thrown back on his desperate wits. Small may not be beautiful, but it lives. Read full review
80
Time OutKeith UhlichApr 24, 2012
Though the film wraps up its spinning-plates narrative a little too neatly, this is still a Scandi-noir to die for. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinApr 23, 2012
The compact Hennie is a wonderful actor, smoothly congenial when confident, uproarious when rattled. And he will be rattled-as well as stabbed, shorn, bitten, mangled, and worse. Read full review
80
EmpireKim NewmanApr 9, 2012
A slick thriller which takes place in a moral vacuum. It's fascinating rather than exciting, but makes for chilly thrills with two strong, charismatic lead performances, a great deal of style and amusingly repulsive, ruthless twists. Read full review
80
Total FilmMatt GlasbyApr 9, 2012
A nice blend of Scandinavian sophistication and Hollywood slickness, Headhunters is an entertaining Nordic noir achievement – and sure to be tagged as this year's "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo." Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezMay 31, 2012
By film's end, we're deep into Coen brothers territory, with an extra splash of Sam Raimi-level gore. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsMay 18, 2012
This thriller is both skillfully familiar and chillingly strange. Read full review
75
Washington PostStephanie MerryMay 11, 2012
Headhunters has less in common with the somber, brooding tone of "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" than the cheeky black comedy "In Bruges." Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsMay 10, 2012
Swift, amoral and nicely unpredictable. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyMay 3, 2012
Headhunters is slick and spritely, a mixture of corporate skullduggery and low-life slapstick that plays like "The Firm" meets "Blood Simple." Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleWalter AddiegoMay 3, 2012
My main quibble is that the ending is a bit softer than I might have hoped for, but don't let that dissuade you. Headhunters is a well-oiled, nasty machine. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliApr 30, 2012
At a time when many mystery thrillers fall apart in the final fifteen minutes, Headhunters maintains its integrity. Read full review
75
New York PostV.A. MusettoApr 27, 2012
The sex, nudity and violence are nonstop, but that's what makes Headhunters exciting entertainment. See it before the Hollywood remake, possibly starring Mark Wahlberg, gets it all wrong. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy BurrMay 10, 2012
It's crisp entertainment even as plot absurdities gum up the works. Read full review
60
Village VoiceMichael AtkinsonApr 24, 2012
Plenty of twisty scripting makes the queasy damage seem conceptually neat and tidy, as if that's a good idea, but what we need here is a little more meat. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeApr 21, 2012
Twisty enough to please many arthouse patrons, though some will be rolling their eyes by the end. Read full review
60
VarietyBoyd van HoeijApr 21, 2012
A smooth, intriguing opening and a predictable but emotionally satisfying home stretch bookend helmer Morten Tyldum's otherwise by-the-numbers Norwegian thriller Headhunters. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesMay 31, 2012
The film holds its twists too close to the chest, and there's little to chew on till the ambitiousness of its plotting is revealed late in the film. Read full review
50
The New York TimesNicolas RapoldApr 27, 2012
As black comedy, the film is crude and downright sloppy when compared with the clockwork machinations of the Coen brothers' creations, as it has been since its premiere. Brown's panic is capably rendered, but his ordeals are not worth enduring to the bitter end. Read full review
40
The GuardianPaul MacInnesApr 9, 2012
The film doesn't merit chinstroking: it's stuffed with Troma-style riffs around schlock, gore and human effluvia, bookended by Shallow Grave-like sections full of cynical machinations. The parts barely relate, never mind work together. Read full review
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