PUSHER II

If PUSHER introduced audiences to Tonny, PUSHER II transformed him into one of the great tragic figures of modern European crime cinema.

Rather than returning to Frank from the first film, Nicolas Winding Refn shifts his attention to the heavily tattooed side character who spent much of PUSHER shouting, fighting and trying desperately to impress people who barely noticed he existed.

Fresh out of prison and burdened with debts, expectations and a newborn son he never expected to have, Tonny finds himself trapped between two versions of masculinity he can't live up to. He's not ruthless enough for Copenhagen's criminal underworld and not responsible enough for ordinary life. At the centre of it all sits his relationship with his father, a feared gangster whose approval remains permanently out of reach.

What follows is less a crime film than a character study of failure, inheritance and men trying to become something other than the people they were raised to be. The violence remains, but PUSHER II is quieter, sadder and far more emotionally devastating than its predecessor.

The film also marked Mads Mikkelsen's breakthrough as a leading actor. His performance as Tonny remains one of the defining achievements of Danish cinema and laid the foundations for everything that followed, from THE HUNT to ANOTHER ROUND and CASINO ROYALE.

Few crime sequels justify their existence. PUSHER II surpasses the original.