Previously on Johan Falk:
The events in Organizatsija Karayan has opened up suspicions on the way the drug trafficking/white slavery trading or whatever these scumbags are up to have been constantly intercepted by Swedish Police. We got introduced to a shady mob guy named Dudajev, that runs the Karayan organization.
Another shady guy,scumbag lawyer Fredrixson who´ve we have seen before exactly as a scumbag lawyer to Nicolas Lehman in Executive Protection, has come across some information that Dudajev would possibly be interested in. About a certain informer
Frank Wagner and family is temporarily in Gothenburg to resolve some final issues before starting a new life in France. With them they have a shitton of money.
Stuff gets real.
Plot:
The cat is out of the bag or something like that. Frank Wagners secret identity as informer/infiltrator is now known to the crimnal underworld.
Asshole assailants attack Frank Wagners family at their apartment. Frank shoots one of them point blank in the head,they flee, leave all their money and possessions behind. They seek shelter at Johan Falks house. Now they need for the GSI to live up to their promise and give them new identities.
Also, Sophie gets shot by unknown men in masks. What is going on?
But the leadership, the higherups do not believe that Frank should get away from what he has done, despite the blessings and the silent approval. They want to indict him. Ungrateful bastards.So Frank says fuck y´all and escapes. Now desperate, seperated from his family, hunted like an animal. What can he do?
Johan Falk and the GSI are figuring out how that information can have come into the wrong hands.
And it is not only Franks identity. the identities and personal information of GSI are out. That is why they attacked Sophie. And now target the families to get to Frank.
Jibber jabber:
This one feels more cinematic. It played theatrically in Sweden, which I can understand. It has more production values over it. The opening credits are more elaborate than usual, with close ups on Dudajev and flashes on case file reports in which Lisa ( Frank Wagners code name in the reports) has been part of accompanied by Bengt Nilssons as usual great music that weaves different themes from the past harking back to Executive Protections haunting Oh crisuts valgus with the more recent ones.
It works also as a collage, a resumé of what has happened before. Remember Sam Raimis Spider-Man intros that had these animated events from previous films? This is kind of similar. I guess Frank Wagner is kind of a super hero, leading double lives :he is Infiltrator-Man. That actually sounds horrible. I am glad he is not called that.
Speaking of production values ,there are some gorgeous shots in Codename Lisa of Gothenburg:
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| If you stare to deeply into Gothenburg, then Gothenburg stares back at you |
This is from the climax in which Wagner and GSI has setup a trap with him as bait. Here he prepares for walking into the criminal underbelly, into a gauntlet of sorts to lure out the foreign gangsters that are targeting Frank and GSI in order to get to them
This is the second movie (The Outlawed was the first) in which everything built up culminates in a confrontation. Both with the criminals but also with the law on the opposing side. Both targets the GSI and their methods. The consequences are now apparent. Like in The Outlawed, the bosses are not prepared to go the distance to stand up for something that was silently approved. But here it is less about hanging out GSI to dry for the media and more about not acceppting a civilian infiltrator that has killed people. they feel not obligated to live up to any deal that has been made. A Catch 22 situation here. The problem is, the reason why Frank has been so successful infiltrating is because he made those choices, did some awful stuff that solidified him as a believable hard ass in the eyes of the criminal underworld. GSI would not have gotten that type of information otherwise. It is a bit of a moral conundrum, but if you are dealing with infiltartors you need to go all the way in order to be successful. And it does not exactly fit in in a modern democratic society. Is it really possible for a government to officially approve those methods without endangering democracy?
As a result, when the heat starts to get turned up, the higher ups bail like chicken shits. Now, Franks position is so extraordinary, he is caught between two worlds, often opposed one another, but not always. He is the result of that. Caught in the middle of the acceptable society and the shady underworld that does not abide to some codes or laws other than the cheap value of human life. And in the eyes of the law it seem certain human life is not worth much either.
As I have written before, great crime dramas always show the more murky real life aspects of cops vs robbers. They may be two sides of the same coin in reality, and sometimes depending of how the coins is flipped it can come up either way depending of the circumstances. Johan Falks actions in the past has been highly questionable, now he stands up for an outlaw.
And in the end when they´ve caught Dudajev, Dudajev threatens to kill Frank and his family when he gets out. Frank prepares to shoot him, but Johan straight up executes Dudajev in his place. Making sure Frank can get away. Johan has done some questionable stuff in the past, but never executed someone before. We will see the consequences in later films.
Code name Lisa is one of the best entries in the series up until this point in the series. If not the best. It is highly exciting and thrilling as everything in the bigger narrative has been built up and explodes into a very enjoyable thriller. Rivaling Zero Tolerance and Executve Protection. It has some of the production values of Zero Tolerance, with great visuals of Gothenburg and the relentless suspense from Executive Protection.
I still feel that Falk has been for the most part of the series left a bit on the side.. He has not punched telephones into peoples faces, nor has he pistol whipped them into broken windowframes. But I guess I can´t get everything in life. What we have gotten so far is a great infusion of crime drama meld with the action films aestethic from the first three outings.
Frank Wagner and family says bye bye.
But what happened to Frank really? Well I figured he settled down in France, but I found this image. What the hell is this:
That guy looks suspiciously like Frank Wagner. Playing videogames with President Frank Underwood? On further invetigations on the matter it turns out his name is Will Conway, a republican candidate for the Presidency of the United States. Does this mean Frank Wagner pulled a fast one on the American people? Are they going to vote for a former police informant from Sweden? I am curious how he has managed to keep this under the wraps. Not to mention what an idiot he must have been as he has a pricetag on his life. .But it could also be a masterstroke on his part. Nobody fucks with a President or even a Presidential Candidate. He has more protection now than ever. I´ll take Secret Service over that shit that was the Swedish Police.They took care of him badly considering what he´d done for them. It would be pretty funny if he´d won the election and he could come back to Sweden on a visit and push around the Swedish security as he saw fit.
I am curious to Seth Rydells reaction as he switch on the morning news and see this guys face on the telly. From Vice President in Rydells "Kalasklubb" to Presidential Candidate of the goddamn United States of America.
That is quite a success story.
Next time on Johan Falk: Some sort of retrospective of the series so far which delves more into "Falkology"
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