Pusher II: With Blood On My Hands (2004) is the movie I thought Pusher was going to be. Scenes set in red-lit brothels, tense heists, and a coiled intensity to its main actor. Nicolas Winding Refn’s sequel spins-off to stick a supporting character in the lead, the shit-talking thug, Tonny (played by Mads Mikkelsen). Released from prison, the character is given extra dimensions with father-son themes. He goes to work for his dour, impassive father, The Duke (Leif Sylvester) who runs a chop shop and stolen car ring in Copenhagen. At the same time, Tonny discovers that he has a child of his own with Charlotte (Anne Sorensen), a drug-addicted sex worker. As Refn’s camera follows Tonny doing his rounds, we see him continually try to earn his father’s respect to no avail, not when The Duke’s right-hand man and Tonny’s friend, O (Oyvind Hagen-Traberg) is treated as the son The Duke never had. With Mikkelsen’s stoic demeanor, he gifts this thoughtless, free-wheeling ex-convict with an undercurrent of seething rage that builds over his continual treatment from everyone as well as a reserved, budding attachment to his son. The sequel is a stronger film by far, in my opinion, and even had me brimming with tears by its emotional ending. Cinematography again by Morten Soburg and score by Peter Peter and Peter Kyed. Available to stream on Stan. Recommended.
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