Kidnapping Mr. Heineken

The Heineken name, of course, is not best known for the events depicted in Kidnapping Mr. Heineken, which is why this true-life thriller should have been more compelling.

Instead, it’s an occasionally taut but often tedious dramatization of the abduction of the Dutch beer magnate that embellishes the details and doesn’t pay much attention to context or character development.

The crime happened in 1983, when longtime friends Cor (Jim Sturgess), Willem (Sam Worthington), and Cat (Ryan Kwanten) struggled to secure a loan for their business venture.

With their growing debts prompting desperation, they devise a plan to kidnap billionaire Freddy Heineken (Anthony Hopkins), heir to the beer empire. They abduct Heineken and his driver at gunpoint, and imprison them in an abandoned warehouse while they successfully negotiate a hefty ransom.

Yet the scheme gradually begins to crumble amid suspicion from the cops, media, and others, along with bickering among the impatient crooks, some of which start to develop ethics and second-guess their strategy.

The film puts its unique Amsterdam setting to good use during an early sequence involving a getaway that uses a boat in a canal. Yet for the most part, it fails to accentuate the peculiarities of its from-the-headlines tale and instead turns itself into a rather generic and predictable kidnapping thriller.

There’s some moderate suspense along the way, but the screenplay by William Brookfield (Close Your Eyes) — based on a book by Dutch journalist Peter de Vries — could have used some polishing.

Obviously the material attracted a strong cast, perhaps due to the involvement of Swedish director Daniel Alfredson, who helmed the final two installments of the original Girl With the Dragon Tattoo trilogy and makes his English-language debut here. Often the performances elevate the proceedings, especially in the case of the philosophical Hopkins, who spends most of the film locked in a cellar in his pajamas.

Eventually, the focus is less on what happens to Heineken and more on what will become of his captors, shifting into more of a moral power struggle as the original goal of the attack is relegated to the rear-view mirror.

The result might prompt viewers to search for more details on the actual case afterward, but either way, it certainly can’t hurt beer sales.

Rated R, 95 minutes.