Cop vs. Killer (2012)

Within the Netherlands several movies are produced each year, called telefilms, which will be shown on TV, maybe also in the cinema and which will then be released on DVD. Because they are made this way they are partly funded by the government, which of course makes it easier to make a movie if you can secure money. During the last couple of months I watched several of them and was nicely surprised by them. See I’m not the biggest fan of Dutch cinema, but with some of the movies I’ve seen thay is slowly changing a bit. I’ve especially enjoyed the ones dealing with crime, so I couldn’t wait to see this one.

The story is about criminal Mirko, who has managed to stay out of the hands of the police for ages. A special police unit has been set up to catch him (think something like was done in The Wire, although this movie never gets near to that show). When Mirko kills the son of a rival mob boss he no longer has control of the situation. When he also finds out that he possibly has a daughter the situation gets even more difficult.

With a title like Cop vs. Killer I was expecting a psychological game played between the two, but it is not something the movie offers. Instead it is a very basic crime story where the characters didn’t have enough depth to them to really get caught up into it all. The movie has a lot of cliches and therefore misses any real surprises. Not enough time is spent on the police side of things, where there is a mole leaking information, but by the time it is revealed who it is you will almost have forgotten there was one. It should be a dramatic moment, but didn’t feel like one.

Another choice I didn’t enjoy was the look of the film. Almost all color had been removed, which made it seem like a black and white movie. It was supposed to add to the bleak and dark atmoosphere but I constantly was aware of it. Not everything was bad though. Actor Jeroen Willems really shines as criminal Mirko and steals the show in every scene he’s in. I had the feeling this movie could have been a lot more and ultimately was disappointed because of that expectation. It will kill some time should you decide to watch it, but set your mind to it being a long episode of a TV show instead of a full fledged movie.