PUSHER II: BLOOD ON MY HANDS „Movie Review”

Written & Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn
96 min, Unrated

Cast

Tonny- Mads Mikkelsen
Smedenv- Leif Sylvester Petersen
Charlotte- Anne Sřrensen
Kusse Kurt- Kurt Nielsen
Ř- Řyvind Hagen-Traberg
Gry- Maria Erwolter
Rřde- Karsten Schrřder
Den Gamle- Dan Dommer
Svend- Svend Erik Eskeland Larsen
Chief- Jean Pierre Peuleve
Milo- Zlatko Buric

PUSHER II: BLOOD ON MY HANDS continues the story director and writer, Nicolas Winding Refn first brought to the silver screen in 1996. The sequel focuses upon the life of street hood, Tonny who last appeared on the losing end of a baseball bat, wielded by his friend Frank in PUSHER. “Blood on My Hands” shows Tonny coming home from prison desperately seeking the approval of his crime lord father, the Duke. Tonny feels unbearable pressure to owe up to his debt he amassed in prison, and the responsible he feels after learning he now has a son, conceived while away in prison.

Refn once again shows his prowess for developing intriguing and complicated characters. PUSHER only gives a glimpse of Tonny’s character, mostly in brief segments of dialogue about sex. In the first movie, Tonny is a braggart, acting like he is the next coming of Wilt Chamberlain. “Blood on my Hands” shows the true Tonny, a tragic figure who can not even maintain an erection. Tonny is a selfish, feeble character that looks to his father to get him out of every jam. He helps friends until he feels in over his head, then he backs out and tells them it is not longer his problem. Shades of Al Pacino’s “Lefty” from DONNIE BRASCO come to mine.

As most good writers, though, Refn has created a protagonist who goes through an arc. He makes choices during the end of the film that indubitably will change the rest of his life. Like the ending of the first film, viewers are called to use their imagination to decide his consequences.