Dossier K. (2009) User Reviews

Very well-made thriller

[rubenm · 7/10 · 12 December 2009]

Dossier K is a very well-made thriller, with all the right ingredients. It has an intelligent plot with an exotic Albanian twist, good use of locations in Antwerp, interesting characters even for some of the bad guys, some exciting shoot-outs and car crashes, and a hint of romance. It's a high-paced, adrenalin-soaked movie without any flaws.

On the other hand: it's just that. A well made thriller, a little bit better than the run-of-the-mill Hollywood product, but not much. It's quality entertainment, but not a movie that sticks in your mind afterward. Nor does it offer any food for thought or discussion. The good thing is, it doesn't pretend to be more than it is.

Made for ...

[kosmasp · 8/10 · 28 December 2010]

Police thrillers (or thrillers in general) are nowadays being made for TV. And I'm not saying that in a derogative way. TV shows have a high quality nowadays. Still many people wouldn't bother watching the shows and/or the movies. If you are one of those people then you might be wrong here.

Might because this Belgian movie could be good enough for you to like, even if you don't consider yourself a fan of crime. The good thing is that since the movie stays true throughout its running time, you will now once you are into the movie. After the initial 5-10 minutes you should have figured out, if this movie is worth your while.

Nicely acted and with a story to back that up, this is just another entry from Belgium in the Thriller genre in the recent years. They might be up to something over there. And it's nice to see that they have the scriptwriting talent to match their acting generation.

Barely okay.

[charmaments · 6/10 · 12 January 2017]

I give this film 5.7 which I'm rounding up to 6. This is not a good film and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

It had the potential to be a good film, even a great one, but this opportunity was wasted. The acting is good, the sound is good, music, lighting, editing, cinematography, all the ingredients were good, but the script wasn't.

The idea of an Albanian blood feud in a Western European country is a brilliant one, but even though it's the central issue in the story, it's just not that well done.

The problem is the script itself. Even though it's based on a book, these adaptations don't always work out well. The book has so much more time to tell its story. The film has to do it in 2 hours. If the book is not suited for a film, you get a mediocre film. If you change too much, people complain that it's not similar to the book and give it low scores. It's a difficult enterprise.

This film's competition is not films like Infernal Affairs, The Departed, The Silence of the Lambs, etc. but a whole lot of excellent TV cop shows that have the expertise and the time to tell a long story.

A blood feud is something that needs time. You need a reason for the first murder, then you need retaliation. So far, it's just a revenge killing. You need at least one or two more to make it full vendetta. But murders of people we don't know or care about don't give the scale of this problem. Random characters dying on TV don't make you flinch. It's the murder of people you love/hate that make you react, but in 2 hours, there's no time for all that.

The story is not just about the Albanians, but about the police detectives. But it's the same thing with the cops. When Linda died, I just shrugged.

There are things that are just amateur though. For example, when they go through the camera at the boy's ceremony and instantly find the man they're looking for. Too easy.

I liked the hotel room trap with the porn and I wanted the film to be more of that.

Ultimately the only reason for anyone to watch this film is to see the Albanian vendettas on the screen. Albania is a poor country without much of a film industry, so other than The Forgiveness of Blood, this cultural practice doesn't get much screen time.

If you're not interested in that and are more into police dramas, this isn't a great one.

5.6/10

A well worth sequel to the highly acclaimed 'De zaak Alzheimer'

[CSharpFan · 10/10 · 9 December 2009]

Today I went to see Jan Verheyen's new movie.

I already had high expectations of this movie since it's a sequel to the highly acclaimed Flemish movie 'De zaak Alzheimer' (2003).

Again you are presented with top of the line, Hollywood comparable style, music, camera shots and characters.

The story is based on the book of Jef Geeraerts. I did not read the book. I won't go into the story (don't want to spoil anything). But I assure you that you will be on the top of your chair throughout the whole movie.

The music is one of the things that I acclaim the most. There isn't that much background music throughout the movie but the sound supporting the events really adds to the thrill.

For the characters: Again the same team, Vinke, Verstuyft, ... Linda (Hilde De Baerdemaeker, known from LouisLouise) is pushed more to the front in this movie, and she does a very good job.

A must see!

it can go 2 ways

[MrSpijker · 4/10 · 19 September 2010]

After the ending credits I thought to myself: "what a waste of time". I was looking forward to this movie since it was going to be the sequel of the great action thriller "de zaak alzheimer" (alias the memory of a killer). It turns out to be rubbish.

The acting is unnatural and the used language is annoying. There are lot's of different dialects in Belgium and each one has it's own characteristics but how they used this surplus in the movie is just awful. There is a whole conversation made in "common civilized dutch" and suddenly you notice how the crew thought: "hey, let's make our actors more humane by using 1 typical, language bound dialect word".

The result is a non interesting conversation with a really irritating sound. Where the predecessor got you wondering, shivering and thinking this one just feeds you with the most logical images, dialogues and events. It's like they thought:"let us take a good story and mix it with some stereotypical police flick action".

If you feel like watching a brain-dead, non challenging police movie, be my guest. BUT if your expectations are as high as the ones "de zaak alzheimer" left you with, then don't!

Just don't....

Better then the first movie

[iemand-anders1 · 12 December 2009]

this is one of the finer products of Belgian cinema.

jan verheyen, truly transcended his own abilities, by delivering this excellent piece of work. this is a very well directed story, brought in a gritty, visual style. the acting is class. the story is wel paced, balanced.the casting was beyond excellent.especially the Albanian actors convinced very much. also an impressive composed soundtrack which have all the right elements to translate the gloominess , drama and tragedy very well.

if you like drama, you'll love this, if you like crimemovies, I can recommend this the only minor point to me are some jokes, but those that didn't ruin the whole movie experience for me. highly recommendable, not only for Belgian/dutch/Albanian people, but truly for everyone

The Strange Death of Europe

[snopes-881-42844 · 4/10 · 24 December 2020]

Albanian mobs invade Belgium. But they're not so bad, they are men of honour ! The real bad guys are the Belgian police-politicians corrupted trying to arrest them.

Taut, gritty crime film

[searchanddestroy-1 · 17 September 2023]

I think I would have liked it more if it had spoken only from the inside mafia point of view, and not from the police investigation angle. Directing is OK, so the acting, but only the story telling is a bit inadequate, improper for this kind of plot. But it is a good crime film speaking of the Albabian mafia, as were KANUN and HYENA; forget the rest, TAKEN crap for instance, where they use Albaninan mafia but certainly never really speak about it. This Belgian movie is worth watching despite some lengths, because the investigation scheme which I really dislike. I recommend it to crime thriller fans.