Stream It Or Skip It?

Ferry 2 (Netflix) features the continuing criminal adventures of the title character, Ferry Bouman, a guy who Frank Lammers has now played across three seasons of the Dutch crime thriller Undercover, the original Ferry prequel, an enjoyable spinoff series of his own, and this new film. You see, after the events of the series led to him to lose nearly everything – including Danielle (Elise Schaap), his one true love – Ferry thought he was finally finished with his life of crime. But when his young cousin and her boyfriend show up at the door of his campervan, bringing with them a problem only he can solve plus a clutch of bad memories, he returns to his old stomping grounds in the Netherlands’ southern provinces. One last job. To make things right. Maybe.

FERRY 2: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT? 

The Gist: Newbies to the world of Ferry will appreciate the explainer that opens this sequel. How Ferry Bouman made his bones in the black market ecstasy trade, and eventually became the party pill king of Brabant. But also how backstabbers and cop snitches burned it all down. When we meet him again in Ferry 2, Bouman isn’t even Ferry – he’s “André,” hiding out in a coastal RV park after a three-year stint in prison. And that’s where he’s tracked down by Jezebel (Aiko Mila Beemsterboer), his sister’s daughter’s daughter, and her boyfriend Jeremy (Tobias Kersloot). They’ve hit a few snags getting their own ecstasy empire off the ground. The police confiscated their equipment, and now they owe 250,000 pills to a psychotic criminal upstart named Lex van Dun (Jonas Smulders). 

Ferry, a well-known curmudgeon, does eventually agree to help Jez. He has to – she’s family. And if getting their pill operation unstuck also absolves him of his guilt over killing Jez’s turncoat criminal father, then perhaps this last play will give Ferry a personal victory. What follows is the old-school criminal becoming the leader of a kindergarten crew as Jez, Jer, and their Gen Z buddies scramble to manufacture enough pills to satisfy Lex and establish their own criminal shingle in the provinces. Dennis (Huub Smit) is also still hanging around in Brabant, a holdover from Ferry the series whose bad blood with Ferry is well-known. And how does Xia (Charlie Chan Dagelet) figure into the proceedings? Because the local killer-for-hire has been hired by both sides. 

Ferry 2 brings back the rainy weather, roadside diners, beat-up RVs, and mobile home parks of the character’s previous appearances, and the bits of black comedy that resonate inside a criminal underworld that’s often as half-assed as it is violent. “Uncle Ferry” and his young friends, trying to cook pills in a restricted police facility? It could work! Lex, his itchy trigger finger, and his passel of unstable henchmen? They’re gonna be a problem! But what Ferry 2 brings back the most is Ferry Bouman himself, and Frank Lammers’ powerful portrayal of a thug whose heart is in no way gold, but continually finds new opportunities to glimmer.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of? Ferry: The Series is well worth a watch if you never caught up to it, especially with its focus on Ferry’s romance with Danielle. Frank Lammers’ chemistry with Elise Schaap was undeniable. And for another recent highlight of Netflix’s euro crime drama offerings, check out Crooks, where a semi-retired heister in Berlin is forced into working a dangerous job in Marseille.

Performance Worth Watching: Frank Lammers’ trademark glower has always been the power behind the character of Ferry. The look can be heartening or menacing, depending on its target, and Lammers reestablishes this early in Ferry 2, when he goes from handing out candy to kids while dressed as Santa to boring a hole through Jezebel’s boyfriend’s skull.  

Memorable Dialogue: “You’ve got Bouman blood,” Ferry tells Jezebel; it’s his version of a heart-to-heart. “The longer you wait, the harder it gets. At some point, it’s too late. Everything’s lost. The cash, your family, your friends.”

Sex and Skin: Niets.

Our Take: “Uncle Ferry has an idea.” Ferry 2 is at its best whenever Frank Lammers, as the veteran criminal title character, is spending all of his time explaining how crime works to his eager young crew of ecstasy-producing Muppet babies. Jezebel and Jeremy and their friends have applied their grindset to becoming party pill kingpins, but didn’t bargain for a murderous rival in Lex or just how damn hard it would be to get a cooking lab off the ground. And though the chapter headings here are obvious – Ferry decides to help, early successes on bold actions, trouble in paradise as the money piles up, and then the guns come out – Ferry 2 moves along at a ragtag pace that suits its rainy, rusty look. 

By bringing Ferry back, there’s also a sense that this film marks a transition. You know, “Ferry: The Next Generation,” embodied in the opportunistic scowl of Aiko Mila Beemsterboer, who is really good here as Jezebel. Ferry 2 can struggle when it tries to do too much, moving forward and backward at the same time, and attempting to resolve the strings left flying at the end of Ferry: The Series while fitting in enough of Jez and Jer to make us care about their next moves. But it always has the larger-than-life presence of Lammers going for it, and just how Ferry will use his veteran criming savvy to help these kids achieve underworld success.

Our Call: Stream It! Ferry 2 is an effective revisit for Frank Lammers’ winning portrayal of a memorable character, and fans of Ferry Bouman’s other appearances will recognize the aesthetic. But you don’t really need any previous knowledge to enjoy this pulpy, down-and-dirty criminal tale.  

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