Hamilton (1998) User Reviews

Sweden production plenty of action , suspense and Swedish /American actors

[ma-cortes · 6/10 · 23 October 2007]

This Sweden-Norway co-production begins when Carl Hamilton (Peter Stormare) is assigned the dangerous mission to chase Russian gunrunners . Hamilton reunites a command formed by five tough soldiers . They are parachuted into Russian tundra where meet the smugglers and a nuclear missile SS,20, 1,5 megatons . It leads to Mursmank (Russian), there resides Hawkins (Mark Hamill), he formerly served in Vietnam and Fertile Crescent, today is a cunning manager whose 11 employees were the smugglers . Then , Hamilton goes to Lybian desert where encounters the baddies's base . Meanwhile , his wife (Lena Olin) is kidnapped in his mansion of Stenhara but Hamilton goes on the attack on the headquarter .

The film displays suspense , action-packed , thriller , violence and is quite entertaining . The highlights of the film are the impressive beginning with creepy execution including gore and a breathtaking final attack with fighting , pursuits and explosions . The base took several months to build and nearly 60,000 $ worth of damage was done when it was blown apart . This is an adaptation from TV series about Carl Hamilton and his assignments for Swedish government , filmed with high budget and Swedish players , such as Peter Stormare (Prison break , Fargo) , an usual nasty here turned into a cold action hero , American actors as Mark Hamill (Star Wars) as an exaggerated villain and Terry Carter (Galactica) ; furthermore a gorgeous Swedish , Lena Olin (Ninth gate, Chocolat, Unbearable lightness of being ). Rating : Entertaining and well worth watching.

A well done Swedish Action-Flic

[OldSwede · 7/10 · 14 August 1999]

This is an impressing Action-Movie from Sweden. Although I think "Den demokratiske Terroristen" is the best Hamilton-Film, "Hamilton" is a very entertaining and action-packed Movie full of suspense. Peter Stormare is nearly as good as Stellan Skarsgård and Mark Hamill does a good job fighting his "Luke Skywalker"-image and makes a really good villain you´ll love to hate. The book are in fact better because of the many details given about the different secret services and political conspirations, but - hey - this should be an action movie. Despite that, the beginning of "Hamilton" with the nightmarish execution-scene in the russian Tundra from "Ingen mans land" is one of the most intense filmparts ever made. It´s worth watching it.

A great action movie!

[Mental09 · 7/10 · 12 May 1999]

People, you gotta see this! This is an excellent movie, wonderfully directed by the Norwegian director Harald Zwart, and incredible acting from pretty much everybody, especially Peter Stormare, Mark Hamill and Lena Olin. This has everything. Great special effects, but not too many, an intriguing plot and the thrills that keep you on the edge of your seat throughout the movie. I loved it, must be one of the best action movies I've seen.

This is my humble opinion of the movie Hamilton.

[Spidde · 23 January 1999]

This is one of the better movies about Carl Hamilton and his missions for the swedish goverment.

Peter Stormare plays the part of Hamilton quite good but sometimes he is a litle stiff specially in scens with Tess (Lena Olin). But in the action scenes he is perfect. The way he grins with his teeth when Hamilton is in a tight spot is a thing of beauty. Mark "Luke Skywalker" Hamill is playing the bad guy in this film, and he is not bad as Hawkins. He is both funny and bad at the same time which is making the character more interesting.

The story is not the best one from Jan Guillou but it is enough to make it one of the better ones.

I still think that Stellan Skarsgard is "Carl Hamilton".

The fall and fall of the Swedish 007.

[ichabod81 · 7/10 · 9 September 2006]

This film just doesn't work. No two ways about it. I saw it for the first time back in '98 when it was released and I didn't like it. I just bought it on sale a couple of days ago, 'cause I thought "whatta hell, I'll give it a try". I don't regret for the money I put out for Hamilton, but the fact remained the same.. this movie is pointless, dull and uninteresting.

Stormare is usually a delight, but that's when he's making films in the US. Back home he doesn't do the trick. Sure the movie is well made (if you forget the odd stock footage here'n'there), but in the end the only thing that REALLY lifts Hamilton above one star garbage, is Hamill's turn as the bad guy Hawkins. He seriously has fun with the character and is also responsible for the only two good moments in the movie.. "Swedish intelligence, huh? Now there's a contradiction in terms" and when he allows Hamilton to have a word or two with his wife over the phone towards the end of the flick. And that's really pretty much it.

** / *****

Outstays its welcome

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 20 October 2019]

I had no idea before watching, but COMMANDER HAMILTON turns out to be based on the same spy character from Swedish fiction who also appeared in a couple of more recent movies I've seen and liked from the early 2010s. I preferred those much more to this somewhat dated exercise in international Cold War espionage, which has its moments but generally feels lacklustre and quite cheesy when it comes to the stylistics. Peter Stormare is a strong, impassive presence as the lead character and Mark Hamill is clearly having a ball as the villain of the piece, but otherwise this is quite sloppy: overlong, and more than a little tiresome at times.

Americanized piece of garbage

[akhilles84 · 2/10 · 23 October 2001]

This is without doubt the worst film in the Hamilton saga and the worst actor to do Carl Hamilton.Peter Stormare just cant pull it off,with his psychotic looks and no style at all.He may be good to do killers and psychotic maniacs like in "Fargo" or "8mm" but in this type of roles,he is just useless.

Lena Olin's presence did no use for this film.She couldnt save it from being what it is:an americanized copy of big budget action movies like "Goldeneye","Die Hard 3","Broken Arrow" etc.This film has nothing swedish in it but the actors.Its clear that some norweagian upstart director with McTiernan as model director has made this.

Mark Hamill's presence is only laughable. 2 out of 10

The Worst Swedish Movie Ever

[Rammstein-2 · 1/10 · 5 February 2000]

Yes. It takes a Norwegian to ruin and slaughter two great books and a concept that would work well on film - this film truly is The Worst Swedish Film Of All Time. I hated it so badly that I even considered walking out on it, something I have never done. But it was so awful i was almost compelling. I just had to sit through to the end. Much like some early-80's Stallone action reel, this one REALLY takes Swedish action back to the stone-age. So full of logical errors and stupid mistakes it is almost amusing - but who could ever see anything good in the terrible acting, Mark Hamill's surviving a mine-field or the dumb-ass, useless and irrational action?

Let me ask you: aren't we through with clocks ticking down to zero, the hero escaping in the nick of time and two friends become enemies reuniting by the end? STUPID!!!!

And one more thing: the product placement in this film is unbelievable. While other countries have understood that it shouldn't be so OBVIOUS, the Swedish film industry apparently hasn't understood at all: just look at the credit card Hamilton uses to open a window? Or or or.... this film really makes me mad.

Comparing to the series "Hamilton"

[Finne · 8/10 · 13 March 2003]

Well... I'm glad I first saw the series... and sad that I gave up to my curiosity when I saw this cassette. This is not BAD. I've seen so much worse, made with bigger money even, but if I had seen this first I may not have wanted to see the series. All that was better in the film was the song "And then the tears came" which I do not remember from the series at all. OK, you can't push 3 hours of material into 2 hours-film. But: Why in the devil did they have to use WORSE takes of same scenes in the film? That is something I simply can't understand. But still Peter Stormare is good, Lena Olin is good, Yevgeni Lasarev is good. And Mats Långbacka was actually better than I remembered from the series. For you who blame Peter Stormare being one-faced, just for your information - there's much more to him in the series so try to catch that if you can. There's more to EVERYTHING in the series...

A fun quote: Chivartsev: "And this is Commander Hamilton from Swedish Intelligence." Hawkins: "Swedish INTELLIGENCE? There's a controversy in terms..."

nonsense

[fred-83 · 1/10 · 27 August 1999]

Another example that we should stay away from trying to do spectacular action movies in Sweden, it doesn´t work, except for Widerbergs still unsurpassed MANNEN PÅ TAKET. Stormare does the best he can, I suppose, and some scenes are mildly effective, but the plot is FULL of holes. Why does Hamilton continue the attack on the base, knowing that his wife is held hostage? It was fun to see Mark Hamill, but his Bad Guy-part was very underwritten. I´m constantly amazed that relatively big Swedish movies like this get made without a sensible, functioning script. 1 out of 5.

can someone hand me a gun?

[unit37 · 4 October 1999]

Sorry to say, this film did not fulfill my expectations at all. Peter stormare may be believable playing single dimension psychotic killers such as in Fargo, but when it comes to a character like Hamilton, his single expression face is far far from enough.

The action in the film was rather ok until the story leads us to north africa and the film suddenly wants to be an american hollywood action flick. Why not make swedish action the way we know best? And by the way... who wrote Mark Hamill´s lines anyway?...

Oh, and finally... if the story gets too boring you can always play the game of "spot the obvious product placement"... Yeeech...

Bleeeeaaahhhhh!

[tonstant viewer · 4/10 · 19 June 2008]

If this is the best Commander Hamilton movie, I have no curiosity about the others.

A movie actor's greatest tools are his eyes, but when Peter Stormare wants to show great emotion, he closes his, so for five or six seconds we get to admire his eyelids while his feelings remain unknown behind them. Lousy acting technique.

Stormare also flinches sometimes when he fires a gun, turning his head away and clamping his eyes shut. Watch carefully. James Bond can rest easy with competition like this.

There are some interesting supporting performances from other actors, but not enough to hang a whole movie on. The cinematography is good-looking, doing a fine job of capturing the Nordic cold. Even the Sahara winds up looking cold. Perhaps Hamilton carries his own climate with him.

There are some individual good action sequences here. Unfortunately, the only sense of humor on screen belongs to the villain, which turns the hero into a big pill. James Bond's jokes may not be particularly good, but at least he doesn't look constipated all the time.

One positive point in the movie's favor is that the psychotic, contorted, vicious hatred of Israel in Guillou's books has been left out. What has been kept in is worship of a noble, heroic PLO, that he shows us functioning in Libya without the dictator Khaddafi's knowledge or supervision. This fantasy is hard to believe, since Khaddafi actually threw the PLO out of Libya for four years at a time. And at the end of the film, Hamilton gives the PLO a very disturbing gift. Where will they use that gift? Hamilton doesn't care.

We're a long, long way away from "For Whom the Bell Tolls" here.

Commander Hamilton will remain a local phenomenon. While Henning Mankell's books sell well around the world, Jan Guillou will never have the same success.

As for this film, bleeeeaaahhhhh.

Outstanding!

[anystroem · 10/10 · 15 January 2004]

This was an awesome movie that actually made you feel as if you were part of the plot, and kept the audience reminded of the fact that good & evil deeds depends on whom you are pulling for. I rank it right up there with some of the blockbuster hits out of Hollywood with much heavier payrolls adn budgets than that of Hamilton. This is absolutely one of the better movies in its genre.

Outstanding!

[anystroem · 10/10 · 15 January 2004]

This was an awesome movie that actually made you feel as if you were part of the plot, and kept the audience reminded of the fact that good & evil deeds depends on whom you are pulling for. I rank it right up there with some of the blockbuster hits out of Hollywood with much heavier payrolls and budgets than that of Hamilton. This is absolutely one of the better movies in its genre.

My opinion of this positive piece of nordic film art

[Karhu · 15 February 1999]

I think this movie shows a positive development in the movie industry in Scandinavia. It`s a brilliant action-film, with many elements that Hollywood wouldn`t accept (read: chainsaw-scenes). Peter Stormare is excellent and the best of the Hamiltons` that have appeared on celluloid. It has many different scenes and locations from Morocco to the Russian tundra and is a multi-international adventure. Jan Guillou is a very good writer and this is a fine product of two of his books (Ingenmans land and Sista Segern). See it, and make up your own mind.

Is this the best Hamilton film ever? I think so. Harald Schwart,Peter Stormare and Lena Olin gives Hamilton a whole new dimension.

[Mighty Schmoe Pong · 8/10 · 18 November 1998]

This is probably the best Hamilton film ever. Although there`s a few holes in the story,Scwart manages to give us the story of the two Jan Guillou books Ingenmanslan Den Enda Segern. I suppose those holes will be corrected in the TV-series. Peter Stormare is,in my opinion the best Hamilton ever,and getting Lena Olin to play Tessie was also a major scoop. Althogh I don`t think I can ever identify Mark Hamill as anyone else than Luke Skywalker,I think he gives Mike Hawkins the necessary cynicism that the character was given by Jan Guillou.

A great Swedish movie

[gregerpalm · 9 August 2003]

I read what another one of my fellow users had written about Hamilton. he apparently thought that it was an, and I quote, "amaricanized piece of garbage". This is completely wrong. It is an excellent action movie and as for the fact that Peter Stormare is playing the leading role, I can tell u that he is the best hamilton ever. Stellan Skarsgård was the last one to play hamilton and he was much worse than Peter Stormare. It's definately a 8/10.

About the books

[coby-821-268621 · 9/10 · 18 October 2013]

Are these books in English. I just watched this movie today, and are very sorry that I have missed the series or other movies from this. Would like very much to read the books if I can find them. Are they out there , also is the series out there somewhere, I would like to watch them also. I thought it was a great movie, but I can not speak Much about it, have seen it for the first time today. I thought that it was a little hard to watch But now I understand why it was from reading the other reviews . Had a few holes in it that made you not go to refrig or bathroom, then you where lost. Guess I have been living under a rock or something.

What about the books?

[Xorius · 12 March 1999]

Although 'Hamilton' is a rather good action movie it does lack the interesting details from the original books; "Ingenmansland" and "Den Enda Segern". The books don't include all the action in the movie. The action-sequences in the books are actually only a very small fraction of the whole story. The movie actually differs so much from the books that it will be hard to make more movies from the Hamilton book series...