Michael Nyqvist could make a threatening man seem tired, amused and still worth fearing. We rate him most when a role gives his restraint something to work on; Hollywood did not always oblige.
Fi1m perspective
In John Wick (2014), Michael Nyqvist gives Viggo Tarasov a weariness that makes room for humour without making him harmless. We laughed at the contrast with Alfie Allen’s less restrained Iosef Tarasov, because Nyqvist keeps the menace so matter-of-fact. Neither part has much depth, but his gives us a welcome break from the fighting. He can suggest that a man has lived with trouble for years without asking the screenplay to stop and explain him.
That ease also served the ordinary men under pressure in his Swedish work. Together (2000) helped establish him domestically, while As It Is in Heaven (2004) gave him a leading role as Daniel Daréus. Wider recognition came with Mikael Blomkvist, the investigative journalist in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009) and the other Millennium adaptations that year. His understated sympathy in that part is worth remembering when the later thrillers ask chiefly for authority and threat.
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011) shows the limits of that casting. Brad Bird makes a tense, funny adventure, but Nyqvist’s Hendricks is too thinly written to keep the pursuit urgent between the action sequences. André Nemec and Josh Appelbaum supply more inventive obstacles than a compelling threat, leaving the actor little to develop. We recommend the film for its team and its clear action, though anyone looking for Nyqvist to do something distinctive will find little opportunity here. His presence cannot make the villain matter as much as the next difficult job.
Chad Stahelski gives Nyqvist more useful work in John Wick, even within another thin role: his scenes provide welcome interruptions to the violence. That makes it our first choice of these two for his performance, although we rate Bird’s film a little higher. The caveat is that neither gives much space to the vulnerable side of his acting. Try The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo for that.
Biography
Michael Nyqvist was a Swedish actor. Born in Stockholm in 1960, he trained at the School of Drama in Malmö. He first gained prominence in Sweden for his role as police officer John Banck in the Beck television series (1997–1998) and for leading roles in films including Grabben i graven bredvid (2002) and As It Is in Heaven (2004).
Nyqvist achieved international recognition for portraying Mikael Blomkvist in the Millennium film trilogy (2009): The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. He later appeared in English-language films such as Abduction (2011), Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011) as Kurt Hendricks, Disconnect (2013) as Stephen Schumacher, and John Wick (2014) as Viggo Tarasov. He died in Stockholm in 2017.
