solefab-53302 Being from Denmark I was introduced to Pusher in a early stage. I have lived in pretty much all of the settings of the trilogy (Vesterbro, Nørrebro, Nordvest, Amager) I feel blessed by this movie by Winding Refn. He just captures some of most raw and realistic environments.The sequel is not as fast moving as the first but nonetheless still a top tier to me. The story of Tonny is so well portrayed, both by using a great cast of non professional actors and by the cinematography it self greatly inspired by the wave of Danish Dogma 95 - yet still very different. Tonny is one of my favorite movie characters. A life full of harshness, being constantly pushed down and on the lowest rank in his surroundings. I am one of the greatest domestic fans of Winding Refn and Mads Mikkelsen - happy to see they are doing so well at the international film scene. Would also recommend "Bleeder", also a great Winding Refn film with all three Pusher- stars of Mads Mikkelsen, Kim Bodnia and Zlatko Buric.

brchthethird PUSHER II: WITH BLOOD ON MY HANDS is a sequel to the Nicolas Winding Refn's 1996 feature debut, and this time the story follows Tonny (Mads Mikkelsen) who just got out of prison and is looking to straighten out his life. Of course with these types of movies, you can usually guess that it will be really difficult and the person will likely fail despite their best efforts. Without spoiling anything, I can say that the resolution to this oft-told story isn't as downbeat as you might think. Mads Mikkelsen, my favorite part of PUSHER, does an even better job this time around as his character is further developed and easier to root for. The filmmaking style is much the same also but doesn't have the quite the same narrative structure, which works a little better in my opinion. The strongest part of this film is the writing, which does a good job of setting Tonny apart from the filth that surround him. Sure, his hands aren't really clean, but he's pretty tame compared to the people around him. Even the tattoo on the back of his head ('Respect') gets some significance, as it's the one thing he never gets from anyone, not even his father. Respect is always beyond his reach and field of vision. And that's just a single example of how PUSHER II is thematically deeper than its predecessor. I do think the basic story it tells is one that, like PUSHER, has been done before and better, but a criminal/junkie trying to go straight is ultimately a more compelling story by default. From a technical standpoint, the cinematography, while still digital, is greatly improved and the hand-held camera-work feels more controlled. I didn't mention this with PUSHER, but with this film also the score and soundtrack are incredible. In this one particularly, there was some of the electronic-style music that would feature heavily in DRIVE and ONLY GOD FORGIVES. Overall, PUSHER II is a significant improvement over PUSHER that has a more sympathetic lead character, compelling story, and one of Mads Mikkelsen's best early performances. Even if you didn't care for PUSHER, I would still highly recommend seeing this sequel.

peterroeder34 Mads Mikkelsen is awesome, almost superhuman, in his acting here but the movie is quite disappointing. I had seen nr 1 and 3 and now saw this one. Unfortunately it follows the trend of pointless testosterone in Danish gangster movies. Milo only appears briefly. Bodnia does not appear at all. I love Refn as a director and it is not really his fault. The directing and script is great. The supporting actors are so weak as to almost ruin the movie. Mikkelsens dad looks more like Jørgen Leth than a gangster. The acting is so totally amateurish and indeed many of them are not professional actors, I guess. Anyway, this movie (and all of Refn's movies) is still worth seeing.

johanevander Just like Pusher, Pusher 2 presents you with a world of rain, seaweed and concrete. Mybe not even concrete but mere plain dirt.Although not as strong as Pusher it still grabs you and keeps you in its arms through the entire journey of Tony's confusing and degrading life, right out of prison.Fragile and non-existing relationships develop back and fourth and eventually it is obvious why the main character is where he is in life; near the bottom of a downslope. Violence and drugs mixed with maybe not so unexplainable relations hands you a bitter and sad father and son situation.