Feature

Pusher

A drug dealer tastes the trade’s dark side.

Directed by Luis Prieto 
(R)

**

Though predictable, this remake of a 1996 Danish crime film is “fast-moving, stylish, and gritty” enough to entertain, said Bill Goodykoontz in the Phoenix Arizona Republic. Actually, it “would be practically unwatchable” without a strong lead performance, but Richard Coyle “makes us care about a pretty sketchy character”—a successful London cocaine dealer named Frank who gets in over his head when he tries to pull off a big score. There’s at least one major upside to the trouble that ensues, said Lisa Schwarzbaum in Entertainment Weekly. Reprising his role from the original, “colorful” Croatian-Danish actor Zlatko Buric plays the “jovially menacing foreign heavy” who’s out to collect the money he lent to Frank. His performance is the best part of the film. Director Luis Prieto “tells the tale well enough,” considering that he’s working with “the sort of drug- movie tropes we’ve seen a hundred times before,” said Michael O’Sullivan in The Washington Post. But in the end, you just feel “pushed into a corner”—forced to care about Frank “because there’s really no one else to root for.”

Recommended

China plans to land astronaut on the moon by 2030, official says
Chinese astronauts Gui Haichao, Jing Haipeng and Zhu Yangzhu
race to the moon

China plans to land astronaut on the moon by 2030, official says

South Korean man facing prison time after opening airplane door in midair
An Asiana Airlines flight that had its emergency door opened midair.
Problems in the Sky

South Korean man facing prison time after opening airplane door in midair

Recep Tayyip Erdogan wins reelection in Turkey
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Emerging Victorious

Recep Tayyip Erdogan wins reelection in Turkey

10 things you need to know today: May 28, 2023
The national debt clock in midtown Manhattan.
Daily briefing

10 things you need to know today: May 28, 2023

Most Popular

Disney hits back against DeSantis
Entranceway to Walt Disney World.
Feature

Disney hits back against DeSantis

What the shifting religious landscape means for American politics
Ballot box
Talking point

What the shifting religious landscape means for American politics

Censoring ideas and rewriting history
Copies of banned books from various states and school systems.
Briefing

Censoring ideas and rewriting history