Review: 'Cop Secret' is Sheer Dumb Fun in an '80s Action Mold

When Reykjavik's hardest-drinking, most badass cop, Bússi (Auðunn Blöndal), and his rival from adjacent city Gardabaer – a smooth, smart, and rich former model named Hörður (Egill Einarsson) – team up to defeat a sociopathic bad guy name Rikki (Björn Hlynur Haraldsson), they quickly find themselves entangled in the head-scratching mystery wrapped around a fast-moving plot that is Hannes �ór Halldórsson's '80s action spoof "Cop Secret."

A string of bank robberies has Reykjavik on edge, and the city's bumbling police force seems unable to foil the robbers, especially since the perpetrators don't actually steal anything from the banks they target. Police chief Thorgerður (Steinunn Ólína �orsteinsdóttir) knows that only her best man, Bússi, stands a chance of unraveling the riddle; he's got a bad attitude and a worse habit of creating chaos any time he's on the job, but she shields him from critics and staves off disciplinary action against him.

But even Bússi might have met his match. What are Rikki and his and his gang of dimwitted henchmen (and one highly competent henchwoman, Stefanía [Vivian Olafsdottir]) up to? What have their evil machinations got to do with Saturday's big soccer match between Iceland and England? And how come Bússi's been so distant from his girlfriend lately?

That last part is easy to figure out, once Thorgerður merges the police departments of Reykjavik and Gardabaer and teams Bússi and Hörður up. Though Bússi has been fighting it all his life, he can no longer deny that he's gay... and his pansexual new partner is willing to help him surmount his deeply ingrained homophobia. But the rest of the challenges they face won't be overcome so easily –�in fact, they can only be solved if the two new partners in love and in law enforcement can overcome jealousy and poor communication skills, keep their bond strong, and remain united against Rikki and his goons.

The script is written by committee; both leading men contributed to the story, and it took a trio of screen writers (Hannes �ór Halldórsson, Nína Petersen, and Sverrir �ór Sverrisson) to flesh out the rest. The result is as dumb and action-packed as you would hope it to be, but beyond that it's nice to see a same-sex couple share a kiss before jumping into action, work out their relationship issues while picking off bad guys, and profess their love while handling a blazing machine gun in slow motion.

For those of us who came of age in the '80s, watching the big, loud action movies of that era, this feels like a missing piece that's been put into place at last. Blöndal has the sexy wiriness of Jason Statham, while Einarsson has a smoldering Sean Bean magnetism about him. We can only hope that, like Schwarzenegger and Stallone, or even van Damme and Lundgren, these two hot action heroes are back for a string of bigger, wilder, and even sillier adventures.

"Cop Secret" plays at the Brattle Theater, as part of Wicked Queer: The Boston LGBTQ Film Festival, on April 9. For more information, follow this link.

Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.

This story is part of our special report: "OUTshine 2022". Want to read more? Here's the full list.