Review: ‘Jo Nesbo’s Jackpot’

Hot on the heels of the hugely popular Headhunters, here comes another Norwegian thriller based on a story by Jo Nesbo. And this one is just as droll and tightly plotted.

The film opens in the aftermath of a bloody shooting in a sex shop.  The detective, Solar, discovers Oscar alive beneath the corpse of a fat woman and drags him back to the station for questioning.  The film then cuts between the cop’s ongoing investigation and Oscar’s story of how he came to be clutching a shotgun with eight bodies strewn around him.

And what a story it is….

Oscar is a supervisor at a small factory producing artificial Xmas trees.  It’s one of the few businesses that employs ex-cons, so his staff are more troublesome than most.  When Oscar is coerced into joining a football betting pool with a psychopath, a somewhat dim loser and a guy who never stops grinning – you just know things are not going to go well.  Especially when the ticket proves to be a winner and there are millions of kronor at stake.

Solar listens to this story, incredulous as the death count rises, body parts are strewn across the county and the factory’s wood chipper and nail gun are put to uses for which they were not intended. A tanning bed, a Swedish pig farm and a greedy landlord also play their part in the sordid tale.

This is a stylish, fast-paced action romp with fantastic performances from all the cast members. Some of the set pieces are inspired but gruesomely grim, but the witty, barbed dialogue helps to lighten the tone.

If you loved Headhunters, you won’t want to miss this one.

7/10