Tweekums Christopher is having money problems; much of what he owns was given to him by his friend Steingrímur; his wife Iris jokes that he even got her the same way! With the landlord threatening to evict him from his home he agrees to Steingrímur suggestion that he return to his old smuggling ways and bring a consignment of vodka from The Netherlands; Steingrímur will fund the operation and they will split the profits fifty-fifty. While Christopher sails for Rotterdam a drug dealer and his thugs start intimidating his wife for reasons that aren't immediately obvious. Aboard ship he and his shipmates work out where they will hide all the vodka so that the captain won't find it. Meanwhile another crewmate finds where he has hidden the money. After arriving in Rotterdam the lack of money could prove a problem but their contact forces Christopher and a friend to help them with an art heist as payment. As they return to Iceland it becomes obvious that Steingrímur isn't the friend Christopher thought he was. When he gets back he will have problems with the police, the drug dealer and Steingrímur.When I picked this film on DVD I knew nothing about it; the blurb on the box made it look interesting and I didn't have any Icelandic films in my collection so I bought it… I'm pleased that I did. The story is interesting with some fine action as well as a surprising amount of comedy. This comedy is unforced; based entirely on amusing incidents rather than silliness or comic dialogue. The cast do an impressive job; especially Baltasar Kormákur who gives a standout performance as Christopher; also notable are Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson as Steingrímur and Lilja Nótt Þórarinsdóttir as Iris. The action is good without being over the top; I particularly liked when the ship arrived in Rotterdam and it looked as if it wasn't going to stop in time and the art heist scene. As the film approaches its conclusion the tension rises nicely and for a while it looks as if a key character is dead. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to anybody looking for something a little different.

SpannersGerm669 There are things to like about Reykjavik-Rotterdam. First off , its always good to have a film coming out of little known Iceland. Recently films such as Black's Game have really opened my eyes to Cinema from this nation. To see that the Hollywood film Contraband is a remake of Reykjavik -Rotterdam, the expectations were at a high.Unfortunately Reykjavik-Rotterdam is far from a good film in my opinion. It has many problems with one being that it didn't feel like a complete, all round experience. Our main character travels to Rotterdam on board a cargo ship, to smuggle some alcohol back to Reykjavik in order to give his family a better life. We also have the standard villains who are pursuing and hassling the families of the characters involved. However, while it might sound interesting, the film manages to feel like a B Grade film. By the end of it, you want more. You feel like it was way too simple to receive all the accolades that its received. The villains aren't intimidating enough and the plight of the main character isn't translated very well through the screen. To sum it all up, Reykjavik-Rotterdam feels like a movie that was rushed. With patience, it could have been memorable, but unfortunately it falls short of the mark. If you want to see a good Icelandic Crime Thriller, I would suggest Black's Game!

kosmasp When I watched the American Contraband movie, I had no idea it was based on this movie, because I hadn't watched it back then. Of course the minute Contraband came out on DVD some clever marketing guy thought of releasing this movie too and label it with the tag "movie Contraband was based on". Since I liked the the other Contraband, I thought I'd give it a try.And it is more than apparent that Contraband uses most of this movie as a blueprint. This one though, is leaner and faster. A frenetic pace that might leave some people behind. I like it when people can tell you the same thing, but quicker.. In this case though the remake did improve on some points. One of them is the ending. It doesn't make any sense, even if it is meant to be a joke, they should know better than that. The relationships get explored more in the remake, which on the downside make them a bit cheesy of course.Tough to say what you might like more. I always think it's good to see the original first and then the remake. But that is up to you.

alexanderf I was very impressed with the film Reykjavik-Rotterdam. Just from the moment that I saw the trailer, I knew that I had to see this movie, and I was absolutely right! This movie offers you everything you need; Excitement, laughter, drama, you name it! The actors do a fantastic job, especially Baltasar Kormákur who is better known as a director but proves it in this movie that he is a fantastic actor as well. Ingvar E. Sigurðsson, one of Iceland's most beloved actors, is extremely convincing in his role as Baltasar's "friend" and I must say that I feel like all the actors just do a fantastic job. Most Icelandic movies, such as Baltasar's "Brúðguminn", I feel that are only fun for people from Iceland. However, this movie, Reykjavik-Rotterdam, can amuse everybody, and I can definitely say that it's just as good as many Hollywood thrillers I've seen. Try to find this movie and check it out, you won't be disappointed!