VOD film review: Cop Secret
Review Overview
Sexual tension in white vests
7Clichés skewered
7Hollywood goes to Iceland
7Laurence Boyce | On 25, May 2022
You might think that the phrase “the Icelandic action film replete with gay themes directed by the goalkeeper who once saved a penalty from Lionel Messi” would never be written down. Yet, thanks to Cop Secret, here we are. This unlikely cop comedy from Hannes Þór Halldórsson (whose other job has indeed been the goalkeeper for the Icelandic national team) has proved something of a popular hit on the festival circuit as it gleefully skewers the over-the-top theatrics and sexual politics of the everyday Hollywood action flick.
Bussi (Auðunn Blöndal) is your average super cop, working the mean streets of Reykjavik. He marches to the beat of his own drum, finds it tough to follow orders and his mean exterior is backed up by his hard drinking and complex personal life. Of course he owns a tight white shirt as well.
With banks mysteriously being robbed without any actual money being taken, Bussi finds himself unwillingly paired up with equally super cop Hordur Bess (Egill Einarsson), who is suave, sophisticated and entirely comfortable in his pansexuality. As they soon uncover the machinations of supervillain Rikki (Björn Hlynur Haraldsson) – all disfigured insanity and inexplicable English accent – they find themselves having to continue to break the rules lest all of Iceland find itself in danger. But with the heat on, Bussi and Bess finds that the simmering sexual tension between them soon reaches boiling point.
Much of the film’s fun comes from the dissonance between the vaguely banal Icelandic downtown setting and the usual excesses of action blockbusters. Halldórsson (who also co-wrote the film) ramps up every cliché to the hilt with a certain amount of childish joy. Troubled anti-hero protagonist? Check. Psycho villain with scars and an uncertain ethnicity? Check. A truckload of henchmen who are as disposable as tissues? Check.
As with any good parody, the film’s structure is relatively tight and the action sequences are well thought out, with a few choice set-pieces with some well-wrought fight choreography and obligatory explosions. The comedy is broad and slightly uneven – it drifts between being a full on Naked Gun-esque spoof to having slightly more dry moments of humour – but while it can often lack sophistication, it makes up for these deficiencies with its sheer verve and sense of joy. While it feels like there are a few moments that would sail over the heads of those who are not of an Icelandic persuasion, it mostly takes its cues from the genres most of us have grown up with.
Obviously, one of the key points of the film is the relationship between Bussi and Bess. While still mainly played for laughs, it still feels refreshingly progressive (even if the UK’s Comic Strip comedy troupe did it almost 40 years ago in their story The Bullshitters). With 80s action film male partnerships often drenched in homoerotic tension (usually with a token girlfriend so any question of being gay could be quietly glossed over) Cop Secret’s depiction of their relationship is often glorious, and ultimately rather sweet, as it tackles things head on rather than the usual recourse to metaphor.
With a cast who all commit to being silly, and Halldórsson clearly having as much fun as one can without keeping England out of the World Cup (which he helped to do in 2016), Cop Secret is a riotously entertaining diversion that – while not without its problems – comes from a place of love and affection.