The movie's only flaw is also a virtue: It's jammed with characters, stories, warmth and laughs.

In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

One of the strongest Dutch movies of the year 2008 (the other one being Dunya & Desie) TBS is like a quality American TV movie, without the sentimental ending. Beautiful cinematography, excellent dark music, at their best moments create a creepy feeling like 7even. (A victim in a chest freezer!?) Theo Maassen, mainly known for his theater shows as a comedian, does a fine job, though he does seem to lose some of his focus towards the ending. Maassen plays a convicted criminal, already having served 14 years in jail, who remains under the supervision of the state until the therapists decide he's ready to return to society. (This is called TBS) Which is unlikely to happen as his supervisors want to transfer him to the long-stay, a place where you're basically stuck for good. Maassen escapes with a fellow prisoner (is he a figment of his imagination?) and, when alone, kidnaps a girl, as a trade-off, while he tries to prove his innocence. The girl seems to have problems at home (is her step dad nice to her?) and starts showing signs of the Stockholm syndrome. Which is at times hard to believe when you're kidnapped by someone who murders before your own eyes. A beautiful David Lynchian moment occurs when the two reach their destination, a typical Belgian camping site, where a little girl is singing while rocking a swing. Unfortunately, we don't hear the footsteps on the gravel, as the music drowns out most of the scene. It sometimes drowns the dialogue as well, which is actually not a bad thing considering the notorious bad dialogue in most Dutch films! TBS is worth a watch if you're interested in Northern European cinema, as a Dutch film I would give it 8/10, in the grand scheme of things it's a 6.5/10.

Strong points first. The acting is good, although I would never have casted Theo Maassen for this part. He does a proper acting job, but just thinking about his real-life carnaval hit while in the movie he is on the road with a 13-year old hostage who clearly gets Stockholm syndrome just makes me laugh.The plot is great throughout. The Stockholm syndrome is kind of predictable, but the rest of the plot really isn't. Lots of times I was thinking 'what the hell is going to happen next' which really doesn't happen to me lots of times when watching movies. The greatest thing about the story is that we get compassionate about the main character, as does his young female hostage. But in the end we're all fooled, we haven't seen past the insanity and brutality of this man. A good message that we should never underestimate the sickness of the minds of these people.But although this was all great, there are just some very simple things bugging me. Most notable is the complete unrealistic behaviour of police. It's just crazy that up to 2 times Johan stands next to the car, his hostage at the other side of the car, him pointing his gun at her, police all have a clear shot at him and nobody takes him down. The second time is the most crazy, policemen just drop to their knees and give him the keys to their police van. Just stupid, in real life Johan would've been taken out many times. Also the scene just after the tunnel when Johan loses the helicopter with ease is just unrealistic. And that's just painful. It just kills a potentially good movie and makes me chuckle.So it's good, but flawed. Still good, certainly when taken into the perspective of regular Dutch production value.

Wow, I am impressed. I watched the movie at the premiere in Rotterdam and it really hit me like a hammer. The film isn't about shootouts ans cold blooded murder. Its more a tension, you don't know what is going to happen next. Standup comedian Maassen carries the movie without being funny, although there are a few comic relief moments. Lisa Smit plays a perfect naive 13 year old. Together they search for the truth. Is the man innocent or not? I see a remake in this. The director Pieter Verhoef made also Dennis P. and Van God Los, he is really into crime. But in his movies crime isn't black and white. We see also the good aspects of the criminal. In TBS we see that there are more sides to one story.

I watched TBS as a Sneak Preview in Cinema... I use to go there every week... Sometimes I get very disappointed... But sometimes you're so lucky... ;)TBS is one of the movies of the latter category... Until recently I wasn't very fond of Dutch movies... They used to have a lot of sex in them, bad acting, bad directing, low quality... But only since two or three months ago I'm starting to change my opinion... TBS is another movie that makes me believe the Dutch can produce quality... Although the plot isn't all too original (an escaped prisoner wants to prove his innocence), the subject of escaping prisoners is quite a resent subject in Holland... The end was kind of unexpected (call me naive) and makes me think this movie might just get a place in my very own gallery of honor... :P The acting is very good... Both Johan and Tessa are very convincing characters... Directing too is done well... Although the movie is not visually stunning, the atmosphere is well set... Liked it very much... I can really recommend it...Niels...