The second entry in a trilogy, Easy Money: Hard to Kill strikes the elusive crime drama balance between establishing empathy for its criminals and showing how entirely despicable and undesirable the high-end drug trade is. We understand why the characters get involved, and see in gritty detail how the shot at an upscale lifestyle it offers is absolutely not worth it. The Swedish-based trilogy so far excels in believable, reasonable motivations for doing incredibly stupid things.

To the satisfaction of fans of the original, all the major characters from the first film are back, and screen time is divided evenly between JW (Joel Kinnaman), Mahmoud (Fares Fares), and Jorge (Matias Varela). Mahmoud and Jorge’s journeys play out in epic fashion, but to viewers drawn to rising star Kinnaman, the many long stretches where he is off screen may drag. Kinnaman’s JW and performance are easily the most interesting in the film, but he is in barely a third of it. This sharing of screen time does pay off in the larger story, but the minute-to-minute viewing experience is sacrificed to an extent.

“What you want, can’t be bought. Class, that’s what this is about. Something you’re born with, something you live and breathe,” JW’s business school classmate Nippe (Joel Spira) sneers at him. After the events of the first film, JW is sentenced to three years in prison, and while inside he works around the clock on a financial software product, and he cuts Nippe in on a deal in exchange for contacts in the financial community. Of course, JW’s criminal record means he has no credibility in the marketplace, and Nippe, living free in the upper echelon of society, takes sole credit for the software. JW is left with nothing, and the scenes where he processes this are the film’s best. Even though JW did all of the real work, Nippe wins out, because he has what cannot be bought, earned, or created—status.

The maddeningly ephemeral quality of class in contemporary capitalism, how something so indefinite and hard to pin down determines the opportunities a person has in life, regardless of their intentions or merit, is a main theme, and it really hits home. Even after applying himself as best he can, JW gets screwed out of a legitimate future, and we can understand why he goes back to his old gang. At least in the criminal underworld things can make sense, hard work and talent are rewarded, and there is the possibility of success for everyone.

Mahmoud, though he is not an evil person, goes to the most depraved places of anyone in the film. His ethnicity and background are touched on, and his need to establish his own life apart from his father, whom he considers a doglike coward who sold his dignity to be accepted by the Swedes. Unfortunately for him, a life of crime is the only means he sees available, and it leads him inevitably into a bleak downward spiral.

The most overtly evil character, Jorge, is made more interesting this time around by being given some shades of kindness and love in his relationship with prostitute Nadja (Madeleine Martin). He never becomes a character we can truly empathize with, but he finds some redemption, despite losing nearly everything he fought so hard to get.

While the criminal path is certainly portrayed in bleak, rough ways, there are some glimpses of the energizing effect that also explains its attractiveness. One highlight occurs when JW breaks an old friend, Mrado (Dragomir Mrsic), out of a hospital after the incarcerated Mrado maimed himself to be transferred for care. It is a bold escape in broad daylight, with Mrado stealthily incapacitating his guards and JW looking on in giddy disbelief as the plan goes off without a hitch. In the world of Easy Money, there are some thrills to be had, but on the whole it is a depressingly brutish business. Still, as senseless as it is, it is the only path that seems to make any sense for those in that world.