Annika Ryberg Whittembury

Easy Money II - Trailer

JW has served three years of his prison sentence so far after being arrested for smuggling cocaine. Once a gifted business student at the Stockholm School of Economics, he is now struggling to move his life in the right direction - a feat that becomes harder when he is reunited with former partner-in-crime Mrado Slovovic. Having avoided trouble behind bars, he is being trusted to take unsupervised leave, however he has absolutely no intention of returning. Mrado phones him from the prison to inform him that there’s a stash of cash belonging to their mafia rival Radovan Kranjic, but JW is having doubts about involving himself in the criminal world when it becomes clear that many people will get hurt. Meanwhile, JW attempts to distract himself by resuming his life of parties, drugs and alcohol.

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Easy Money [Snabba Cash] Review

By Rich Cline

Good

It has taken a few years for this Swedish crime thriller to break out internationally. In fact, two sequels have already been made. Despite the rather standard plot and characters, this is stylish, punchy filmmaking. Leading man Joel Kinnaman is now a global star thanks to The Killing, and he's about to play RoboCop in a remake.

Kinnaman plays JW, a poor but smart guy who reinvents himself at university as someone who's posh and well-connected. But a sexy new girlfriend (Henni) has no idea that he has actually made his cash working for a local Arab gangster (Suvakci). When word emerges that Latino drug dealer Jorge (Varela) has escaped from prison, JW is sent to make a deal with him in exchange for his contact list. But a rival Serbian thug (Cukic) also wants to get his hands on Jorge, so he sends his muscled goon Mrado (Mrsic). And as the two gangs become locked in a battle, JW, Mrado and Jorge realise that they're just pawns in a bigger war.

The film centres on these three lower-level tough guys, adding one personal detail to each: JW deceiving his girlfriend and her family, Mrado suddenly having to take responsibility for his 8-year-old daughter (Stojanov), Jorge trying to help his pregnant sister (Whittembury). These details help add a personal level to the violent action, but all three of the female characters are thinly defined stereotypes, so the emotional connections never quite ring true. Much more interesting is the male bonding between these three men who don't remotely trust each other.

Continue reading: Easy Money [Snabba Cash] Review