G. Allen Johnson May 12, 2021Updated: May 13, 2021, 12:36 pm
Anders Thomas Jensen’s Danish film “Riders of Justice” stars Lars Brygmann (left), Andrea Heick Gadeberg, Mads Mikkelsen, Nikolaj Lie Kaas and Nicolas Bro. Photo: Anders Overgaard, Magnet Releasing
Imagine a Liam Neeson revenge thriller with an early Coen brothers oddball vibe.
In Anders Thomas Jensen’s Danish film “Riders of Justice,” which is both action thriller and sensitive father-daughter drama, the incomparable Mads Mikkelsen is a soldier with a special set of skills who goes after the crime organization behind his wife’s killing.
Except, it’s not really
that kind of film. At its heart, it’s a darkly comic drama about a man trained to be a killing machine who must rediscover his own humanity before his daughter loses hers. Along the way, a family of quirky characters is formed.
Riders of Justice Review: Mads Mikkelsen Leads a Terrific Ensemble in This Brilliant Black Comedy
Riders of Justice Review: Mads Mikkelsen Leads a Terrific Ensemble in This Brilliant Black Comedy
A group of socially awkward oddballs and a grieving soldier exact revenge after a suspicious train accident in Riders of Justice.
Riders of Justice is an absolutely brilliant Danish film that cleverly crosses multiple genres. What begins as a revenge thriller turns into a wicked black comedy with a whole lot of heart. A superb ensemble cast, led by the always fantastic Mads Mikkelsen, will have you laughing out loud and cringing at the same time.
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One of European comedy’s most reliable stock types is the dunderheaded academic, that erudite boob who knows so much about so much and yet hopelessly little about human nature. There’s not really an equivalent in the American cinema, but in parts abroad, this figure can be found getting his laughs (and they do always seem to be male, the cluelessness inextricable from the masculinity) by attempting to wrestle the messiness of life into order through hypotheses, theorems, and experiments. In recent years, we’ve seen him try to think through the crisis of modern media in Olivier Assayas’
RIDERS OF JUSTICE MOVIE REVIEW
By
Magnet Releasing
Director: Anders Thomas Jensen
Writer: Anders Thomas Jensen
Cast: Mads Mikkelsen, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Andrea Heick Gadeberg, Lars Brygmann, Nicolas Bro, Gustav Lindh, Roland Møller
Screened at: Critics’ link, NYC, 4/1/21
Opens: May 14, 2021
“Riders of Justice” will keep you guessing throughout, with its mix of near-slapstick comedy and intellectual commentary, its heartfelt demonstrations and extreme violence. With teen-aged Mathilde (Andrea Heick Gadeberg) as the most sober individual of a quartet of oddballs determine to avenge a murder, the film has an assortment of folks with different personalities (and body weights) facing a gang called Riders of Justice. The bad guys are so determined to prevent a witness from testifying at a trial that they arrange a train crash to kill him, a blast so sudden and explosive that for a few seconds you’d think you were watching a war movie.
Mads Mikkelsen s Riders Of Justice To Open Rotterdam Film Fest
FOLLOW US ON: Los Angeles: Mads Mikkelsen-starrer “Riders of Justice” has been chosen as the opening film for the 50th edition of International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR). Directed by filmmaker Anders Thomas Jensen, the Danish-language feature is part of the festival’s Limelight lineup, the organisers said in a statement. Mikkelsen essays the role of Markus, a military man who returns home to look after his daughter Mathilde following his wife’s death in a train accident. “At first it looks like she was the victim of a tragic piece of bad luck, but then mathematics geek Otto (Nikolaj Lie Kaas), a fellow passenger on the train, shows up with his two eccentric colleagues, Lennart (Lars Brygmann) and Emmenthaler (Nicolas Bro), and floats the theory of a possible murder conspiracy,” the official logline read. For the year 2021, the IFFR will be held as a two-stage event, initially with a hybrid