httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A24dzO4Lx6A

Hot on the heels of HEADHUNTERS, itself attempting to emulate the success of the adaptations of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy, the art-house scene’s appetite for Nordic crime thrillers apparently seems insatiable. However, the black and gory laughs of JACKPOT, another Jo Nesbø adaptation, all feel a bit too familiar and contrived to break out in the same way previous Nordic noir has managed.

Opening with a gory shoot-out in a sex store, a Norwegian detective, Solør (Henrik Mestad), investigates the aftermath and discovers that Oscar Svendson (Kyrre Hellum) is alive amongst all the dead bodies and clutching a shotgun. A man who works with criminals on the road to rehabilitation (supposedly), he then attempts to prove his innocence by piecing together the story of a football bet gone wrong. Through flashback, we see the tale of the four winners of a 1.7M Kroner jackpot as they start to fight amongst themselves to claim more of the money, and people they owe from their past try to muscle in on the windfall.

…it feels a bit like a gory Norwegian episode of Taggart [and], although it ticks along nicely, there is nothing here that hasn’t been done better elsewhere and in more cinematic fashion.

The film is enjoyable enough, and has some moments that mix humour with the grotesque quite well even if it does descend into sub-slapstick at times – as if someone placed a Laurel and Hardy scene in the middle of a Tarantino film. Visually, it feels a bit like a gory Norwegian episode of Taggart and the narrative and plot turns seem to be stuck together from bits and pieces of better neo-noir movies. Although it ticks along nicely, there is nothing here that hasn’t been done better elsewhere and in more cinematic fashion.

The film is a complete tonal oddity – unsure of whether it actually wishes to be a thriller with black comedy trappings or eschew the thriller aspect altogether. The progression of the story relies of a number of rather implausible coincidences. One is fine, two can be stomached but several in rapid succession starts to feel a bit lazy.

It’s not that JACKPOT is not worth watching, or even quite enjoyable, but that it feels like a made-for-TV mish-mash of better modern thrillers laced with dark comedy.

It’s not that JACKPOT is not worth watching, or even quite enjoyable, but that it feels like a made-for-TV mish-mash of better modern thrillers laced with dark comedy. The black humour (even down to a wood chipper scene) has been done by the Coens numerous times, most notably in FARGO. The escalating chaos to claim an unexpected windfall for one’s self, again with black humour elements, has been done in SHALLOW GRAVE. The in-fighting criminals and stylised freeze-frame intros have been done by Tarantino in RESERVOIR DOGS and PULP FICTION. The mixing of humour and over-the-top gore has been done by Tarantino, Raimi and Romero – and even Edgar Wright, in homage to the latter, in SHAUN OF THE DEAD.

As Nordic imports go, it’s hardly as offensive as lutefisk, but a quick trip round the £7 DVDs in Fopp and you’d be all set to let this one slip by, really.