DVD Review: I Hunt Men (Mannaveiðar)

Happiness is a Warm Gun: Compelling mystery is a prescient and exhilarating Icelandic Noir.

Two mismatched detectives investigate a serial killer and uncover a dodgy banker’s conspiracy to land-grab.
When a serial killer targets goose hunters a newly formed police department pairs by-the-book detective Hinrik with dishevelled and disorganised Gunnar. Overcoming their distrust of each other’s methods, the pair race against the clock to solve the killer’s riddles and crack the case before more hunters are slain.

Adapted from Viktor Arnar Ingólfsson’s novel Daybreak, I Hunt Men aired in the spring of 2008. Anticipating the economic meltdown which occurred later that year the series highlights shadowy practices bankers were routinely practicing before the system crashed. The smart and searing screenplay rams home the fact that Iceland’s bankers acted without considering the consequences of their policies and thought they were above the law. Believing they live in a separate self-contained world, the bankers in this series buy up valuable land at bargain-basement prices and evict the tenant farmers without thinking about the lives they have just destroyed.

Famously setting a record for viewing figures, it was seen by 60% of the available audience. The TV adaptation presents a streamlined version of Viktor Arnar Ingólfsson’s novel that features all the key beats but is leaner and more focused.
Not afraid to proudly wear its influences on its sleeve, the script is peppered with references to crime books and TV series. Aside from shots of Iceland’s breathtaking scenery, the glue that holds the series together is the engaging performances by Gísli Örn Garðarsson and Trapped‘s Ólafur Darri Ólafsson. At times the interplay between the two characters is more engrossing than the investigation. Produced when Nordic Noir was in its infancy the producers may not have thought about capturing lightning in a bottle and commissioning a follow-up. Now that both actors have gone on to enjoy international success it’s unlikely they will return to play these characters so I Hunt Men offers an intriguing glimpse into what could have been a highly successful long running series.

A rock-solid thriller which meshes tried and tested techniques with all too timely criticism of Iceland’s economy. Proof that Iceland was producing exciting thrillers long before Trapped and Case, I Hunt Men is worth tracking down.

A subtitled DVD is available to order from nammi.is