Signature Entertainment has confirmed that THE CAPTOR (a.k.a Stockholm) will be arriving in cinemas and on Digital HD 21st June 2019.
The film stars Ethan Hawke (Boyhood, Before Sunrise), Noomi Rapace (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Prometheus), Mark Strong (Kingsman, Kick-Ass), Christopher Heyerdahl (Tin Star, True Blood).
1973, Stockholm, Sweden: Self-styled outlaw Lars Nystrom, high on pills, wearing a wig, shades and a cowboy hat, walks into a bank, pulls out a machine gun and fires into the ceiling, cranks up his portable radio, then declares ‘the party has begun’. He takes two bank workers hostage and demands his friend Gunnar is released from prison, $1million, and a getaway car.
As negotiations with the police reach a deadlock, one of the hostages, married mother Bianca, initially terrified by being held captive by the erratic Lars, becomes sympathetic, then strangely attracted to him. As the net tightens, and Lars is forced to take desperate measures, Bianca finds herself siding with criminal over cops.
This stylish, faced-paced, fun and frantic crime caper is a vibrant blend of tension, humour and history. Based on the absurd but true story of a 1973 bank heist and hostage crisis, The Captor, described as ‘a suspenseful, riotous black comedy’, is an extraordinary account of what happens when hostages bond with their captors and turn against the authorities – a phenomenon now identified as the Stockholm syndrome.
Writer and director Robert Budreau has assembled a top-notch cast for this intriguing and unique thriller: he pairs up with Oscar-nominated Ethan Hawke for the second time (Hawke played Chet Baker in Budreau’s acclaimed Born to be Blue), and elicits an intense and hilarious performance from the actor here, as the crazed and charismatic Lars, bedecked in leather and shouting the odds.Â
Noomi Rapace, world famous for her roles in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and Prometheus, is note perfect as the hostage who starts to feel a curious affinity for the bank robber; while the ever-reliable Mark Strong (Holmes, Kick-Ass) is on fine form as the jailbird Hawke springs from prison, who might be double-crossing his cohort.
Strikingly filmed, with a truly memorable turn from Hawke, and featuring the songs of Bob Dylanon the sensational soundtrack, this period piece, reminiscent of heist dramas like Dog Day Afternoon and The Inside Man, is a nail-biting, furiously funny and brilliantly acted account of one of the oddest and most influential bank raids in history.
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THE CAPTOR is released in cinemas and on Digital HD 21st June 2019 from Signature Entertainment.
