Come take a look at the violence and depravity that goes on in ... Copenhagen.

Copenhagen? Yup. But this is pretty effin' far from Hans Christian Anderson and the Little Mermaid.

This movie caps Nicolas Winding Refn's gangster trilogy and veers off in a somewhat different direction from the first two. "Pusher I" and "Pusher II" were tense and violent movies about the Danish drug trade, but both had an element of comedy.

By contrast, Pusher III is one of the darkest movies I've ever seen and it has an extended scene at the end that would never, ever be allowed in a mainstream Hollywood gangster movie.

Pusher III happens in a 24-hour period as we follow along with Milo, a mid-level drug kingpin who is apparently a Serb. Milo has a busy day ahead of him. His daughter's 25th birthday is that evening and he's promised to cook food for 50 people. His product supplier got shipments mixed up and sent Milo 10,000 ecstasy tabs instead of the usual heroin. He's withdrawing from heroin himself and drops in at NA meetings during the day. His crew is getting ornery, giving him lip all the time.

Sigh. It's hard out there for a gangster. You almost feel sorry for the schlub.

Then, when a Polish pimp shows up wanting cash in exchange for a badly frightened 18-year-old girl he has in tow, things start to go bad.

This is in no sense of the word an action movie, although there are murders. No guns, either. It's remarkable how directors from outside the U.S. can take material Americans are completely familiar with and make it look completely different. Take the Korean monster movie "The Host" and the Swedish vampire movie "Let the Right One In." Familiar material. Brand new take.

"Pusher III"is like that. It has stretches where not much happens. But it builds to a horrifying climax all the more horrifying because it plays out utterly matter of fact.

And props to Zlatko Buric, who plays Milo. The camera is on him for the entire movie and we get to know every seam in his weary face.

Zlatko Buric returns as Milo for the last film in the trilogy. He is looking quite a bit older. He is working on a big drug deal while planning his daughter's (Marinela Dekic) 25th birthday party. With her stressed out and nagging, I can see things as a little tense for Milo.

The party doesn't go smoothly, the drug deal is going wrong, and Milo is trying to deal with this and stay clean at the same time.

The most interesting part of the movie was when Slavko Labovic shows up to help Milo clean up some of his mess. It was the highlight of the movie.

The Pusher was the best of the three, but this was not bad.

Pusher III is a good and apparently realistic round-up of the life of drug criminals in Denmark, with strong focus on Serbs living in Denmark and mostly dealing with shady stuff. Events are strange, but logical, although a lot of questions arise regarding the competence of Danish (police) authorities... Compared to previous episodes, the script is rather strong, although there was too much scenes about Serbian traditions and too little about Denmark (presumably intentional).

The cast is, however, "weaker" (= less catchy),Zlatko Burić as Milo outperforms others, but still, he is no Mads Mikkelsen or Kim Bodnia, I would have expected more charisma and management in his role. But all in all, there is not much to complain, Pusher III is still a far-above- average film about honour vs. betrayal, money vs. happiness, with several twists and giggling moments, but pushers are no heroes who live happy and glamorous life.