Stockholm (2019)

Stockholm is the rare true-crime retelling that doesn’t just reenact headlines—it finds the strange, human music inside them, turning a notorious hostage standoff into something nervy, funny, and unexpectedly tender. Robert Budreau keeps the film moving with an agile, off-kilter energy, while Ethan Hawke plays the bank robber with a charismatic unpredictability that’s equal parts menace and oddball charm, and Noomi Rapace matches him with a grounded performance that makes the emotional shifts feel earned rather than sensational. The vibe is a darkly comic pressure-cooker: tense enough to keep you leaning forward, but lively enough to surprise you with laughter in the same breath. If you want a straight-ahead procedural or a grim, realistic thriller, this may feel too playful—but if you’re open to a smart, entertaining crime comedy with real psychological bite, it’s an easy recommendation.

Stockholm is clearly trying to reframe a famous hostage crisis as an offbeat, character-driven crime comedy, leaning into the odd intimacy and psychological push-pull that later got labeled “Stockholm Syndrome.” The problem is the film often feels oddly muted for such inherently tense material, with a limited setting and broad tonal choices that can make scenes drag instead of crackle. If you’re expecting a tightly wound thriller, a sharp satire, or a compelling reason this story needed retelling, you may find it drowsy and only sporadically engaging. That said, Ethan Hawke brings unpredictable energy, Noomi Rapace gives the hostage perspective some bite, and there are moments where the uneasy bonding is genuinely intriguing—just not consistently enough to carry the whole ride.