User Reviews

Jägarna 2 is a pleasant example of famous Swedish crime thrillers: a gloomy policeman with personal issues, slow pace of events, crimes/misdemeanors related to closed societies, long frames of magnificent local nature. However, I could guess the evildoer's person rather soon and, in my submission, he could have been disclosed at the later stage or even in the very beginning. The two leading actors - Rolf Lassgård and Peter Stormare - are great; I think, for me it is the first film with Stormare performing in his native language. The other actors are good as well, but not very catchy, especially the female ones.

Moreover, the film could have been shorter and with more sophisticated ending, but still: it is recommended to those fond of Scandinavian Wallander and Beck types of thrillers.

"False Trail" (original title: "Jägarna 2") is the sequel to "Hunters" (1996), one of the cornerstone Swedish crime film productions, starring Rolf Lassgård as Erik Bäckström, a Stockholm-based police investigator who moves to his hometown in Norrland, in the northernmost depths of Sweden near the borders with Finland. There, he will find his brother, Leif, who gets involved in a case of murder. The claustrophobic, tense energy of the film originated in the well-known plot trope of a man against a small town, filled with secrets and conspiratory silence. The film, which was directed by Kjell Sundvall, the man who is behind the cameras in False Trail too, was well-received among both the Scandinavian and non-Scandinavian audiences and is today considered to be one of the 1990s films that acted as a herald of the upcoming Nordic noir cultural phenomenon which would expand rapidly and extensively in the second half of the 2000s. It is important that this sequel is filmed by the same director as it would be easier for him to evolve the already-existing characters and continue, in a naturally flowing way, the story of the first film.

The movie succeeds as far as the quality of production is concerned and is as thrilling and absorbing as its precursor. Furthermore, R. Lassgård is portraying once more the protagonist, Erik Bäckström, also adding to the movie's coherence. Bäckström is drawn again to his hometown where a young girl has been gruesomely murdered and found with her innards missing in the forest. The local police force is led by Torsten, portrayed forcefully by Peter Stormare, the man who married his dead brother's wife and has adopted Leif's son, and Erik's nephew, Peter. Erik will be initially welcomed warmly by the local officers as he is a legend in the police force, but soon things will escalate and he is gonna suspect that Torsten has something to do with the murder, perhaps he is even the perpetrator himself. When his suspicions will be confirmed, he will have to take responsibility for Leif's family who is living with a brutal murderer. Erik will attempt to redeem himself from the tragic past that we witnessed in Hunters, and help his brother perhaps for the first time in his life.

Both Lassgård and Stormare constitute a mesmerizing duo and they are remarkable in portraying truthfully two characters who seem three-dimensional rather than cardboard constructions. Here, it should be also mentioned that the dialogue in False Trail is of equal quality to Hunters, maybe even better. Stefan Thunberg, the author who wrote along with Anders Roslund the "Made in Sweden" books, is one of the film's screenwriters and his extensive experience in writing for television series ("Beck", "Wallander", "Farang", "Fallet") is evident in the movie's interactions between the characters. This picture has a more optimistic finale than its prequel, and there is a light at the end of the tunnel for both Erik and Peter when the credits roll.

Summing up, False Trail doesn't disappoint the viewer who has seen its prequel and continues the story of the original, in a successful manner, concluding Hunter's plotline. Nevertheless, it is not a picture that you will find in best-of lists, etc. It is a rather underrated movie that is worthy of every loyal Nordic noir aficionado's attention. The production team, director, actors, writers, etc. Are all top-notch and guarantee a more than entertaining viewing experience. If you haven't seen "Hunters", you may not appreciate some crucial character change and evolution, so perhaps it would be best to begin by watching the 1996 prequel. You will not regret it.

The Interrogator Erik Backstrom (Rolf Lassgård) is forced to return to his former home village to solve a murder mystery, in which the local polices and some hunters and even Erik's family seems to be involved. Soon, the conflicts are in full action, especially between Erik and the local police Torsten (Peter Stormare). Torsten does not support Erik very much in his job and has, for some personal reasons, already arrested a suspected perpetrator. Eric takes great risks when he starts digging in the criminal material of the horrible murder case.

Director Kjell Sundin was right when he, after some hesitation, decided to make a successor of Jägarna (The Hunters). There are some flashbacks in the second film, but it doesn't matter. The second film stands on its own and the drama has got its own story with all the ingredients for a strong thriller and with star actors performing convincingly in the spectacular northern landscape of Sweden. The movie is filmed in the small place Överkalix and its surroundings.

Peter Stormare makes an impressing role portrait of the psychopathic policeman Torsten. With small and powerful expressions he excellently performs the complex character. Stormare is a brilliant and talented actor, who can turn stereotypes into great art. Rolf Lassgård is an experienced actor and convincing as the homicide detective, but sometimes falls into manners in his attempts to make the rather flat role more interesting. Annika Nordin as Torsten's betrayed wife Karin is, however, too sophisticated and beautiful for the part. Eero Milonoff performs with force the rough drinker Jari, that with his friend Esa (Juho Milonoff) are the social problems of the village.

The film photo by Jallo Faber is beautiful, even if the sharpness could have been better. But he captures the expressions of the actors very well and seduces us with the grandiose views of the landscape. The writers Bjorn Carlstrom and Stefan Thunberg have created a strong story with an excellent and realistic dialog.

Unfortunately this exciting down-to-earth drama turns into a melodramatic operatic final that does not give the movie full points, even if the story maybe couldn't end in another way. And the closing scenes with the well-polished victims along with Erik in an idyllic winter landscape, feels too heavenly. The consequences of the violent drama should have left some traces with the victims, who actually got life-threatening damages in the film.

But Jägarna 2 (The Hunters 2) got eight out 10, for an exciting movie with talented actors and filmmakers of which Sweden has many reasons to be proud.

Erik (Rolf Lassgård) reluctantly returns to northern Sweden to investigate the disappearance of a young woman. He is greeted by the local investigator Torsten (Peter Stormare). Soon the woman is found dead, killed by the bullet of a hunting rifle. It turns out all is not what it seems in the small town and soon Erik once more finds himself in mortal danger.

I really liked how the filmmakers find a way to continue the story from the first film. Eriks brother killed himself in the end of the first film, and it seems Erik has never really gotten over it. We find out Eriks brother actually fathered a baby – who is now 16 years old – and living with his mum and Torsten. The scenes with Erik and his brothers son is in a way the heart of the film. And in the end this film give the character of Erik a bit of closure than did the first film. In the minus column the film drags a bit in the second half, but everything can't be perfect.

There has been talk of a third movie, but I hope the filmmakers calls it quits. This is a perfect way to end the story. But since this movie was a major hit in Sweden, one more sequel isn't very unlikely. We'll see what happens.

8/10

After watching the very interesting 2017 doc Out of Thin Air,I started thinking about watching a new title from the Nordic Noir genre. Picking up a newspaper on the way back home,I was excited to spot that a Nordic Noir I've read a lot about was to be shown,which led to me locating the true trail.

The plot:

Leaving the police after a fellow officer killed himself over a case he was investigating, Erik Bäckström is forced to return in order to help find missing Elin Ledin. Being more of a forensic investigator, Bäckström finds himself uncomfortable around the aggressive style of policing officer Torsten. Whilst being taken out on a hunting trip by Torsten, reports come in that Ledin's body dissected body has been found in the woods they are going to. As the cops pat each other on the back, Bäckström begins suspecting that Torsten has a connection to the murder.

View on the film:

With one of the main themes of the genre being the police taking on the corrupt business elite, the screenplay by Stefan Thunberg & Björn Carlström give this staple of Nordic Noir a bare-knuckle twist,by making the police themselves be corrupt. Smartly limiting links to the first film to brief mentions that add depth to Bäckström's coming out of the wilderness,the writers make Torsten an attention-grabbing psychopath,whose swagger with a badge can't stop Bäckström chipping away at a macabre murder mystery, or the writers unveil disturbing family secrets hidden in Nordic Noir shadows.

Confronting everyone against director Kjell Sundvall and cinematographer Jallo Faber rural coloured backwoods, Peter Stormare fires on all cylinders as Torsten, with Stormare making him a snarling rogue,whose rapid-fire mouth is matched by his casual use of brutal violence. Haunted by his last case, Rolf Lassgård gives a great, worn-down performance as Bäckström, who lashes out at the frustrations of the jammed mechanics that is the police, but is balanced out by Lassgård with a Noir loner single mindedness to uncover the true trail.

A Swedish schoolgirl has been killed, and she's just good looking enough to make people care. Who is the culprit? Nobody knows. Could it be the local dodgy geezer? Quite possibly, but also possibly not. Whatever the case, the authorities are convinced of his guilt.

Can Detective Erik Bäckström reach the truth of this mystery before the police send an innocent man to prison? Will Niklas finally give up his obsession? Who cleaned out the hunting cottage of the local police chief? Why is Torsten such a dick?

I rate Jägarna II at 26.64 on the Haglee Scale, which works out as a chilling 8/10 on IMDB.

FALSE TRAIL (aka HUNTERS 2) is a Swedish cop film set in the redneck- like rural part of the country where bad rock music, check shirts and alcoholism are the height of cool. When a girl is murdered a city cop from Stockholm is sent back to his rural home, where it turns out that his (widowed) sister is law is married to the local top-cop, who also happens to be city cop's prime suspect. Things are kept nicely murky for quite a while, with the protagonist's suspicions often seeming more like prejudice than fact, as the investigation twists and turns. At a certain point it becomes not so much a question of whodunnit but rather of whether the protagonist can actually pin the murder on the criminal as they brilliantly cover their tracks. Similar to many other Scandi films, this is as much a drama as a genre film, with it offering a compellingly brutal portrayal of controlling manhood. The countryside is gorgeously shot, it's packed with good actors (Stomare's beard deserves its own credit), the rural setting is unusual and atmospheric, and it slowly builds up the pace until it comes to a shatteringly savage Cain-and-Abel type finale in the woods.