‘Headhunters’ a visceral, chilling thriller

An old rule of writing drama is that you don’t show a pistol in the first act unless it’s going to go off by the third. The Norwegian corollary in “Headhunters” is that you don’t show a criminal making clean getaways unless he’s going to get dirty.

Roger (Aksel Hennie) is an executive recruiter – i.e., headhunter – in Oslo who uses his day job to gather information about wealthy art collectors. While the clients are interviewing for elite positions, Roger is burgling their homes. His henchman is Ove (Eivind Sander), a home-security specialist who squanders his loot on a low-rent Russian hooker, while Roger is married to ex-model Diana (Synnove Macody Lund) and mingles with high fliers.

At a gallery opening, Roger meets Clas (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau from “Game of Thrones”), a suave Dutch technocrat who is seeking a Scandinavian partner. But when the partner he targets is Diana, Roger’s planned burglary of Clas’ priceless painting turns into bloody reversal of fortune.

Roger begins as an opaque or even unsympathetic character, but because the buildup is so slickly calibrated, the short-circuiting of his scam is doubly shocking. Roger’s life literally goes into the toilet, and the very hairs on his head vibrate with fear of the vengeful Clas, who has the latest tools to track and kill his prey.

Although the violence pulls no punches, the movie is marred by a last-minute explanation of the loose ends that seems imported from a Hollywood con-game flick.

Like a Teutonic techno band, this thriller is both skillfully familiar and chillingly strange. Along with the Swedish “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” “Headhunters” is visceral evidence that Nordic noir is the new black.