Starts off exposition heavy, but it’s balanced well by the comic book-y tone. Once the Swede shows up and the movie kicks off, it becomes quite fun. I appreciated the minimal violence, and the depth of the primary antagonist. Sterling Hayden gives a fun performance as George Hansen, but I feel like there was something a bit amiss with his character. He walks through the movie insisting on his right, but there is no revelation that justifies his confidence. I liked that he doesn’t really do anything particularly badass until the end of the movie, but I feel like he should have had more action scenes so that we could at least see him as some kind of martial master. The film leans into the trope of Europeans as cultured and refined as the basis for an interesting minimalist aesthetic; for the most part, narrative exposition and characters are balanced and complement the tone of the film. The reliance on highly artificial, story book narrative elements makes the movie feel somewhat inconsequential, as fun as it is.