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The Captor was originally called Stockholm, in a film based on a bizarre, but true, bank heist in 1973 which turned into a hostage crisis and spawned the term “Stockholm Syndrome”, as the captor bonds with the person initiating the heist.
With only 90 minutes to tell its story, it doesn’t hang about, as Kaj (Ethan Hawke) heads straight into the bank to begin, and all the staff and customers dive for cover, including bank teller Bianca (Noomi Rapace). He states he wants $1m, plus a man called Gunnar Sorensson (Mark Strong) by 3pm, later extending his demands to the same car as the one driven by Steve McQueen in Bullitt, or he’ll start capping heads.
Why Gunnar? They used to knock about together in criminal circles.
What follows mostly plays out very straight-forward, with Bianca slowly falling for Kaj’s charms, but even when there’s a plan, there’s an occasion where that plan doesn’t quite go to plan. Also, Kaj has a hidden secret to be imparted as the movie progresses.
Overall, The Captor is a moderately entertaining film, and also a nice antidote to so many OTT lame blockbusters dominating the multiplexes these days. It’s a far from essential film, but Ethan and Noomi are always watchable in anything.
I think they should’ve stuck with Stockholm as a title, over The Captor, however. Say the latter to anyone, and it’ll immediately get a “Pardon?” whereas everyone’s more familiar with the names of cities. And yes, Stockholm could refer to anything set in that city, but if a film makes its mark, then it’ll be remembered solely with that title, whereas “The Captor” is a bit too generic.
As I mentioned, this film is just 90 minutes long, give or take, and I wish more films were this short. Sooooooooo many just waffle on for well over two hours when they don’t need to. So that’s also a feather in its cap.
The Captor (Stockholm) is in cinemas from June 21st 2019.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 92 minutes
Release date: June 21st 2019
Studio: Signature Entertainment
Format: 2.35:1
Rating: 6/10
Director: Robert Budreau
Producers: Robert Budreau, Nicholas Tabarrok, Fredrik Zander
Screenplay: Robert Budreau
Music: Steve London
Cast (in credits order)
Kaj Hansson / Lars Nystrom: Ethan Hawke
Bianca Lind: Noomi Rapace
Gunnar Sorensson: Mark Strong
Chief Mattsson: Christopher Heyerdahl
Klara Mardh: Bea Santos
Elov Eriksson: Mark Rendall
Detective Vinter: Ian Matthews
Detective Jackobsson: John Ralston
Olof Palme: Shanti Roney
Vincent: Christopher Wagelin
Christopher Lind: Thorbjørn Harr
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.