Beck Deadlift is the fiftieth film in the series. Understand how endlessly dead there are, how much blue light thunders forth, the splashes offered and understand how… extremely tired Peter Haber have to be.
But the thing is, he actually isn’t. Peter Haber is actually in the top form of his life when, for the FIFTEENTH time, he plays the role of Martin Beck.
Sure, he doesn’t lift many fingers in Deadlock. Sometimes he kind of wanders around Joe Biden-pensioner’s pastiche of a cop who mostly gets kicked out of every room he sets foot in.
Here, all the focus is really on Martin Beck’s grandson Wilhelmwhich is played by Walter Skarsgård. But you know that by now. It is the sixth film with Valter Skarsgård in the role, and there will be more.
Valter Skarsgård as Vilhelm Beck and Maria Sundbom as Trine. Image source: TV4
In an interview with TT, Haber said the other day that Skarsgård is a worthy heir on the day that Haber himself feels he no longer wants.
– Both a good and quite logical heir actually.
Deadlock with Peter Haber as Martin Beck
Deadlock begins with Chris, who acted as a driver during a cash-in-transit robbery, mucks from prison. One thing leads to another, and suddenly the police have a murder to solve.
– We are the country’s leading homicide investigators, and we have a murder to solve, says Martin Beck.
They don’t really seem to be the country’s top homicide detectives because one is more clunky than the other, but I’m still surprised by the turn everything takes.
Because when Vilhelm Beck is then kidnapped, you fire on all cylinders. Suddenly the movie isn’t just about a “boring gangster murder with underworld connections” (snark).
Now the bet is completely different. The intrigue feels almost personal for the private Peter Haber, when he is met with the terrible news that Vilhelm has been kidnapped. He is so good in the role!
All emotions are at stake and you can almost touch them when Vilhelm’s mother (who is of course played by a phenomenal Rebecca Hemse) portrays a mother’s love and concern with a couple of glances during one sequence.
That interplay between Haber, Hemse and Skarsgård becomes the film’s truly great asset. Despite being very emotional, it is surprisingly never sentimental and tacky.
Of course, this isn’t just some big cryfest. There are also nice cliffhanger clips, exceptionally bloody ultra-violence, an old sly squatter, an unstable love couple where one half consists of an incredibly neurotic “gangster girlfriend” and of course we have a troublesome Swish journalist in the picture.
Peter Haber as Martin Beck in Deadlock. Image source: TV4
When it’s at its most exciting, I find myself not breathing for a good couple of minutes.
But sometimes it feels like the creators behind Deadpool haven’t quite decided what movie they want to make. Is it a bloody thriller or a more emotional police drama?
Of course you can do both, but then I would have actually wished that the film was good for much longer.
Stalemate could have WELL fleshed out in at least 40 more minutes. The resolution feels a bit rushed, and I miss more insight, and maybe even more depth in the characters and backstory. But that’s what sequels are for, I guess.
But with that said: if you want to be entertained and get stable Swedish “cozy” crime at home on the couch, you won’t be disappointed.
And yes, not an eye is dry when Ingvar “The Neighbor” Hirdwall delivers his last line in Beck ever
Ingvar Hirdwall and Peter Haber have had many good conversations on the balcony at Bergsund strand 31 in Hornstull. Image source: TV4