"Kidnapping Mr. Heineken" is better than the critics' score suggests. The critics are right -- this film has a few issues. Kwanten's "English accent" sounds like Eliza Doolittle's closing night performance from the Rappahannock Community Theater troupe, but then again, how appropriate is an English accent on a blue collar Dutch criminal character in the first place? There's not enough action for a heist picture, but then again, this is a kidnapping picture -- not a heist picture, and by nature a hunker-down-and-hide kidnapping story will always be more static. Hopkins is a bit lackluster in his role, but as ceaselessly fascinating as it would have been to have him reprise his role as the imprisoned Hannibal Lector, it would have been inappropriate for the role of an aging, kidnapped Dutch beer mogul. All in all, "Kidnapping Mr. Heineken" is a perfectly good kidnapping tale with thoughtful costumes, good sets and locations, and decent writing.

I never even knew that this took place. I found the story to be interesting more than the film itself. Whilst the acting was solid the ending was predictable, even when true.