This conspiracy thriller is set in the early 80';s, the beginning of the Norwegian Oil Boom. Enormous oil and gas deposits are discovered in the North Sea and the authorities aim to bring the oil ashore through a pipeline from depths of 500 meters. A professional diver, Petter, obsessed with reaching the bottom of the Norwegian Sea has the discipline, strength and courage to take on the world';s most dangerous mission. But a sudden, tragic accident changes everything. Petter is sent on a perilous journey where he loses sight of who';s pulling the strings. Gradually he realizes that he is in way over his head and that his life is at stake.
"Pioneer" has the necessary parts for a finger-pointing thriller that could boil the blood if handled well. Alas, this story of workers wounded by corrupt oil industrialists and politicians sinks from drawn-out scenes and too few surprises.
It's to Pioneer's credit that it is able to take something as clinical-sounding as "decompression sickness" and successfully turn it into a tension-ratcheting plot point.
With his ratty moustache and balding head, Hennie makes an unlikely leading man (if this were Hollywood, the chiselled Bentley would surely fit the bill), but he suits the film's dour, downbeat mood, reminiscent of 1970s paranoid conspiracy thrillers.
Mr. Skjoldbjaerg, who also tapped Norwegian history with his bank robbery re-enactment "Nokas," doesn't convey a creeping atmosphere of moral rot so much as an irksome glumness.
A brooding psychological drama where everything that happens is open to multiple interpretations and figuring out who if anyone is on your side gets harder and harder to do.
Certainly, the diving scenes look authentic and this is a world that needs exploring. But, the thriller angle is less than effective. Some niftier writing and staging could have made this a much scarier affair.
Director Erik Skjoldbjærg (Insomnia) makes excellent use of the high-tech, low-glamour world he depicts, and manages an ending that is happy without being farcically so.
