Pusher 2 (2004) Full Review

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Transcript

00:00hey guys welcome back i hope you're all doing good it's me beau back on the film scene

00:18investigation channel and in today's review i'm going to be taking a look at the 2004

00:26crime drama pusher 2 now it was only a few months ago that i watched the first installment pusher

00:35from 1996 and having enjoyed that film so much i had to check out the sequel i also think that

00:45because pusher the original was left so kind of open-ended i was really intrigued to see

00:53where the story would go this time around just before we get into the review guys if you like

01:00what i do here on the channel then please do consider subscribing all the support is greatly

01:06appreciated so pusher 2 from 2004 was written and directed by the filmmaker nicholas winding refin

01:16and was the follow-up to the 1996 original pusher in the original movie we had the actor kim bodnia

01:24in the lead role with mads mickelson supporting this time around it was mads mickelson in the lead role

01:31as the central figure of the story what i found interesting was that the director nicholas

01:38winding refin was in some ways basically forced to make pusher 2 simply because his previous film

01:46fear x was a financial box office flop refin was in a low point in his career after investing so much

01:55into his previous project having that financially failed he needed to generate some cash very quickly

02:01and decided to basically do a sequel to pusher 2 so yeah it was kind of uh intriguing to see how

02:09pusher 2 all came about and it certainly obviously was an ideal situation i mean refin was kind of

02:16backed into a corner and had to kind of go back to something that was seen as successful and that he

02:23could basically get funding for now in terms of the plot we had tony in the central role played by

02:31mads mickelson who had just left prison after being incarcerated for drugs this time around he

02:39was eager to make a positive change in his life he had had enough of that criminal lifestyle and

02:49really wanted to kind of branch out and do something new you know do something that was going to actually

02:55make his life better we eventually saw tony reunited with his dad smeden a man that he had not seen

03:03for many years but it was obvious that his dad was not happy to see him you see the dad knew his son

03:12was a waste of space he didn't trust him he didn't want him involved and basically just disregarded him

03:20then and there tony of course tried to talk his dad around and yeah you know persuade him to give him

03:27a job give him a chance give him an opportunity to prove himself and tony even ended up showing his dad

03:34his arms just to prove that he wasn't using heroin anymore it certainly wasn't an ideal situation

03:42but well tony was his son you know he was blood so smeden decided to give his son an opportunity

03:50a chance to prove himself but warned him that he better not mess up and he better stay clean

03:58you know tony agreed and he was very grateful you know to be given this chance to prove himself but

04:05it didn't take long for tony to go back to his old ways of stealing and taking drugs you know you

04:14have to understand that for someone like tony who had such a long history of you know robberies and

04:23crime and drugs and all that kind of stuff i mean it was almost near impossible for someone like that to

04:30you know change their lifestyle it certainly was going to be a challenge for tony but luckily for

04:38him a few days later he found out that his dad smeden had his own criminal enterprise where he stole cars

04:46and then sold them on for a profit as you can imagine once tony found out well he certainly wanted

04:54to get involved so he ended up stealing cars with his dad's team subsequently going on this heist

05:02and yeah it turned out to be a lucrative business as long as no one was caught separately to this we

05:10were introduced to one of tony's old friends a man called kurt who basically asked tony to help

05:18accompany him on a drug deal this kurt guy well he needed backup and since tony was an old friend who

05:26could handle himself he thought he'd be the best guy for the job but as for tony he wasn't exactly

05:33you know thrilled to get involved in some sort of drug deal again tony certainly liked taking drugs i

05:41mean that was never an issue but the whole drug dealing pusher element well he'd kind of

05:47moved on i mean he was now stealing cars for his dad it was a lot more you know money going on and

05:53well yeah it just didn't seem like it was worth it kurt was able to persuade tony to come along

05:59and even offered him a monetary fee so if the deal was successful then tony would get a piece of the

06:08action so they headed to this private hotel room but soon they found milo the drug dealer from the

06:15original pusher movie they're ready to do business given the history that milo had with tony's old

06:23friend frank of course the situation was a little awkward at first but tony just tried to play

06:32everything off as normal it was clear to see that milo was a lot happier to see tony than tony was to see

06:42him but nevertheless the two chatted with milo even asking about where frank was you know for me

06:49i'll just say that i thought this was the best scene in the entire movie just the back and forth

06:57between tony and milo yeah i i wish it went on for longer it was such a great scene and also the first

07:04time that we'd actually seen both characters on screen together in the original 1996 movie

07:12they were both in the film but had separate scenes so yeah it was great to see them finally you know

07:19together on screen and uh i just wish it lasted longer as for the drug deal things didn't go

07:26according to plan when kurt ended up flushing the drugs down the toilet after he heard a knock at the

07:33door now this ended up being a false alarm but at that point the drugs were gone and kurt still needed

07:41to pay yeah i found that quite interesting because the situation that kurt found himself in was the

07:49exact same situation that frank was in all those years ago in the original pusher movie they had debts

07:56to pay and if they weren't paid then there would be serious consequences it certainly was a messy

08:04situation but there was nothing really kurt could do besides try and find the money as quickly as he

08:10possibly could we would later find out though that kurt's supplier ended up being none other than

08:16tony's dad smeden kurt was this low-life drug dealer scumbag who couldn't be trusted and he even

08:25ended up trying to drag tony his friend into his mess but it still didn't help matters it was a

08:33tricky situation and it was only a matter of time before smeden came looking for his money which he

08:39eventually did and once kurt was unable to pay he was killed to add insult to injury kurt's debt was then

08:48passed on to tony i mean smeden wasn't messing around if kurt wasn't going to pay then he was going to put

08:54all the responsibility on his son smeden thought he could you know throw his weight around and

09:00basically get that money from his son but tony refused he refused outright to be put in that same

09:08situation that frank was all those years ago tony wasn't just gonna roll over and take the abuse that

09:15he'd taken for so many years so he decided to fight back now when it comes to the narrative themes in

09:23clearly fatherhood was a key component to the movie with tony's story he was endlessly pursuing

09:33his father's approval he wanted to make this you know positive change and show his father that he was

09:40worth something but ultimately his dad never showed him any signs of affection smeden looked down on his

09:49son he looked at him as a waste of space someone that he never trusted and he never made any effort to

09:58reconcile their relationship you know all of this was a great insight into the tony character it certainly

10:05told us a lot because in the original pusher movie from 1996 well frank was the central character and we

10:15never really got any backstory on tony but this time around we were given a lot more backstory a lot

10:22more of tony's history and it certainly gave us a better understanding of that character seeing him come from

10:28a dysfunctional family i mean yeah no wonder he became a career criminal now i'm not trying to dismiss

10:37tony's tony's criminal activities i mean you know you can't look past that but i think you have to take

10:45into account that he had a very troubled childhood was basically neglected so in some ways you know can

10:55we blame the guy for going off the rails so young tony was not cared for you know he was left to his own

11:02devices which only made things worse as he ended up getting into drugs and criminality at a very young

11:10age there was also this interesting subplot where we saw tony becoming a dad for the first time now

11:19initially when he was told about this after he came out of prison he denied ever being involved with this

11:26woman who had just given birth tony was adamant that he had nothing to do with the child but

11:32eventually found out that he indeed was the father and yeah slowly came around to the idea

11:39understandably for someone like tony this came as a big shock you know suddenly he was faced with all

11:47this responsibility but he decided to step up and be there for his son tony also knew that the mother

11:55charlotte was unable to cope she was very much into drugs and cocaine and yeah similar to tony as a child

12:06she was neglecting their son tony saw all of this play out and even confronted charlotte about her actions

12:15but yeah arguments and rows and it there was no harmony there was no agreeing with these two

12:22and ultimately the child was gonna suffer for it and all of this clearly upset tony because

12:30he didn't want his son following in the same footsteps as he did he came from a neglectful

12:38you know childhood home and well it was going to be the same thing all over again history repeating

12:44itself so at the end of the movie in a surprising twist we saw tony take the baby and run he wanted

12:53to give his son an opportunity an opportunity that he was never given and so he thought it was the best

13:00to take the baby away from the mother and make a new start somewhere else and this brings me on nicely

13:07to another theme that i noticed in pusher 2 and that was identity you see for so long tony had lived this

13:18identity of being this you know drug dealer you know the drug dealer lifestyle all of that kind of stuff

13:25that goes along with it and ultimately it was just bullshit i mean he was posing as this drug dealer

13:33he was acting like this drug dealer but deep down tony was a vulnerable man he had hid behind the drug

13:41dealer persona for so long but when his son was born suddenly it was like tony had this epiphany he

13:50suddenly realized that he wanted to be a father that was his identity that's who he wanted to be

13:57not some you know low-life scumbag drug dealer in other words the birth of his son gave tony a new

14:06opportunity the opportunity that he'd been wanting for so long an exit route to escape the old lifestyle

14:14and to start a new one now when it comes to the performances of course mads mickelson was the standout

14:23in this movie playing the central figure tony and i must say i actually thought he did a better job

14:32this time around than he did in the first pusher movie mickelson was the driving force behind this

14:39film and he elevated an otherwise mundane story and made me feel genuine sympathy for his character

14:48mickelson relied heavily on facial expressions and body language to basically convey tony's

14:57inner turmoil and he did this brilliantly well having seen the first film you know the tony character

15:04played by mads mickelson he was so memorable and you certainly wanted to see more and i'm glad that

15:10we got this sequel pusher 2 the actor was given a bigger platform to showcase his talents and you

15:19know showing what he could do as a leading man and well he certainly didn't disappoint as for the movie's

15:26soundtrack it was another solid effort by musician peter peter whose music really heightened the moody

15:33atmosphere of the film there was one track that i really really liked and that was used during the car

15:40heist when smeden's men started robbing the cars from the dealership in some ways it kind of reminded

15:47me of um some of that early john carpenter music we heard you know from films like assault on precinct 13

15:55it was really up building up tension you know this crescendo and uh yeah it was just perfect so

16:04i was impressed with peter peter's uh first soundtrack for pusher and he came back he returned and once

16:11again you know provided some really good material certainly if you're into motion peter soundtracks

16:18definitely check this one out because it's like a piece of music that you can just kind of hear by

16:24itself even without you know watching the movie it's that good so uh yeah i definitely recommend it

16:31so dislikes for pusher 2 from 2004 my biggest dislike for the film would have to be the overall

16:41narrative and the lack of energy compared to the original film you know it was fine it just

16:50felt like a little bit of a step down compared to the first installment and i felt that nicholas

16:58winding ref in the director wasn't able to infuse the kind of excitement and passion that he did

17:06with the first movie you know it's kind of hard to articulate because this is not a bad movie and it's

17:14not a bad sequel but there was just something lacking i can't quite put my finger on it but um

17:22yeah i mean even when we did get some exciting moments for example um smeden's men you know in

17:29the car heist that was great it really was but it didn't last long enough like the first film

17:37had like a bigger scope it had more energy had more vibrancy and more unpredictability you know

17:44this one pusher 2 was a lot more of a kind of a personal story i didn't mention earlier with the

17:53the themes it being a fatherhood and yeah i can obviously a lot more personal story from the

18:01director who wrote this movie you know i understand that things were going to be a little different i

18:07mean even though this was a sequel pusher 2 takes place eight years after the original so we're

18:15nearly talking a decade and you know characters get older characters get wiser and they mature and you

18:23know pusher 2 was a lot more of a introverted story really when it comes to my dislike all i'm really

18:31saying or you know warning you guys is go into this with lower expectations it's not to say that the

18:39first movie you know was you know bombastic explosions and gunfights you know it wasn't but

18:46there was a little bit more kind of grittiness to it and um it felt a little bit more dangerous where

18:54this one felt a little bit a little bit more safe another dislike i had and this wasn't a big one it

19:01didn't ruin the film for me but um i would admit that there should have been more milo in this story

19:08simply because he's such an intriguing character and when he left you know he was just hoping that he

19:16would return at some point it certainly was great to see the actor zlato buric you know return

19:23and you know play milo once again but uh it just didn't last long enough it basically was a

19:31glorified cameo i guess in some ways you could say that he was so good and so memorable not just in

19:39the first film but also in this scene in pusher 2 that uh yeah you know you wanted more and that was

19:47it he was there and next minute he was gone now i understand that the third installment pusher 3

19:53revolves all around milo so you know i can't complain too much but just as a standalone movie

20:01pusher 2 yeah milo should have definitely been involved with the narrative a lot more

20:08so ratings for pusher 2 from 2004 i'm gonna be rating this movie a solid 5 out of 10

20:19pusher 2 from 2004 was certainly a solid follow-up to the original 1996 movie with mads mickelson taking

20:29over the lead role while i enjoyed this sequel and appreciate you know what nicholas winding reffin was

20:37trying to do to be honest i still preferred the first movie yeah i can be objective and looking at

20:46myself i think i went into pusher 2 with perhaps the wrong mindset because i kind of thought that

20:53the sequel you know we would see tony you know as the final boss now you know as this you know

21:01crazy drug dealer type guy that you you know would not mess with you know a lot more violence and crime

21:07and all that kind of stuff but what we actually got was a very kind of personal story about a man

21:17who was very vulnerable and who was basically destroyed by his own mistakes what is interesting

21:25is that pusher 2 is very much or acts like the counterpart to the first movie with frank in the

21:32original doing his best to try and avoid prison with you know tony in the sequel the story picks

21:39up after he's left prison so it's kind of like what happens to someone after they've served and you know

21:45they come out on the other side now that i'm you know i've had some time i do appreciate it but

21:54it was still kind of underwhelming for me you know in terms of the whole you know viewing experience

22:02if you've seen pusher 2 then please let me know your thoughts and memories in the comment section below

22:09for all those who haven't this is a recommendation from me of course though please go and watch the

22:16first pusher um you'll probably enjoy that a little bit more but um still i thought it was a worthy

22:22effort and props to mad mickelson he was the best part of this film and well that is all from me

22:29today guys i do hope you've enjoyed this review of pusher 2 from 2004 i'll be back next week with

22:37another cult movie review don't forget to like and subscribe if you like the content that i do here

22:43and of course guys take care

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