In this day and age, with the likes of downloads and streaming, we pretty much live in an instant society. When once we had to wait up to six months to a year to get a popular US series to appear on our TVs, many of them can now pop on our EPG's within a week of airing domestically.

This film was originally released in its native Sweden in 2010, so has taken quite some time to make it to our shores. In fact, since then, two sequels have been made. But on this evidence, you can tell why there wasn't a real rush to get it over here.

JW (Joel Kinnaman) is a young man with one dream: to make it rich. He's got a smart head on his shoulders too, as he's a star pupil at business school. In his spare time he drives a taxi, as a way of making some quick cash. But with the affluent crowd he's now hanging around with at school, it just isn't enough.

His boss doesn't just run a taxi firm however. He dabbles, quite heavily as it turns out, in drug trafficking. Knowing that he's a smart cookie, his boss asks him to help him out. When JW learns of his reward for doing so, he eagerly agrees.

But his boss isn't the only crime lord on the block. The mafia aren't best happy with their growing drugs business, and offers them an ultimatum: do it our way or you'll have a war on your hands. Unfortunately for JW, a suitable resolution isn't reached, and he soon finds himself on very dangerous ground.

When I said "no autographs", I meant it!

With audiences currently enjoying the criminal waves of Nordic Noir that have been lapping at our shores for the last few years, it's no surprise that this effort is being released, albeit somewhat belatedly, on the back of it. Particularly when you consider that Kinnaman (who will been seen shortly as the new Robocop next year in the reboot) starred in the US version of The Killing (as Sarah Linden's sidekick Stephen Holder), and Matias Varela appeared in the excellent Arne Dahl (as Jorge Chavez).

But despite this quality pedigree, and the fact it was directed by Swede Daniel Espinosa (2012's Safe House) there's just far too much slow-burning and not enough action to make it entertaining. It may have something to do with its Nordic connections, but the characters are all a bit too distant and chilly. And considering it's just over two hours long, very little happens in terms of plot and character development in all that time. It spends too much time talking a good talk, but it just can't manage the walk.

Another disappointment is that it wasn't released under its original title Snabba Cash, which is easily more entertaining than the film itself.