At its core, Riders of Justice is a rather simple story. Mads Mikkelsen is Markus, an elite Danish military man. He has spent more time on battlefields than with his family, as his daughter Mathilde (Andrea Heick Gadeberg) blazes through her teenage years.
Things change drastically and tragically when Mathilde and her mother play hooky one day and are on the subway when an accident occurs that takes the life of Mathilde’s mother and numerous others. Luckily, Markus’ daughter survived, as did Nikolaj Lie Kaas’ Otto. He’s riddled with guilt. See, ever the gentleman, he gave Mathilde’s mother his seat, and everyone sitting along that area was killed.
Otto and Markus’ lives collide due to the fact that the former believes that what happened on that train was no accident. It was an act of terrorism at the worst, or gang retribution at the best.
One of the reasons that Riders of Justice works so well is the chemistry between these three men who stumble into the world of Markus. There are fish out of water tales, and there are narratives that find the most improbable of people pairing up for the sake of something that is larger than themselves. That is firmly the case in writer-director Anders Thomas Jensen’s fifth feature film as a helmer.
When Markus, who was recently deployed (again) is ordered to come home to ensure the care and safety of his teenage daughter, his arrival feels like a man who is reporting for duty, not someone whose wife recently perished in a train explosion right. Also, it was right in front of the eyes of his daughter, who was standing nearby.
Only in the hands of Mikkelsen (yes, The Movie Mensch is Mad for Mads), could a character be created who is tough as nails, the perfect father for what his child needs at this moment in her history, and a resourceful member of a team whose sole purpose is truth.
The most unlikely of world’s colliding is nothing new to the action milieu.
Lethal Weapon, anyone?
But what makes Riders of Justice so fresh is the nuanced layers to every single character that walks in and out of Jensen’s world. As the death toll to the train “accident” rises, Markus starts to agree that there was nothing accidental about what happened to his wife. Someone was on that train and got off… and an individual got on! It may terrorism, or … a targeted hit. Either way, Markus will get to the bottom of it and bring his unique brand of justice.
One of his greatest “weapons” is one of the country’s top hackers, who sits inside Markus’ home when “the guys” come by. It’s hard to tell who the fish is that is out of the water, and who is simply out of alignment with how this plotline is developing. Mikkelsen is outstanding. The way he has to balance vengeful retribution that is dominating his being currently, with being a father to a teenage daughter who just lost her mother and best friend, is a challenge, to say the least. His thespian approach to fatherhood, particularly under these circumstances, is pure Mikkelsen. The actor has crafted a character that is now instantly one of my favorites of his. Now, Arctic is still my favorite role of his, but his work in Riders of Justice is now a close second.
The way that Jensen interweaves the numerous vastness of this seemingly simple story is spellbinding. Witnessing the most unlikely of friendships develop is a joy to experience. This little crew of misfits bond and it is safe to say, that they are becoming friends—or at least friendly. It is only within the framework of this landscape that these folks would even share space, much less a friendship borne out of vengeance.
Riders of Justice is not a straightforward look at justice and how it is arrived upon. There is a wrinkle to the plans that have Markus questioning what he thought had happened and more importantly, who was behind it. Yet, as Mikkelsen plays Markus, a beat is not missed. Even if justice is misguided, these are not good fellows. Basically, they have it coming, even if our guys are doling out revenge coming from a false center. It’s an emotional quandary that Jensen has interwoven into his entire narrative. The thing is, by the time one realizes that a potential mistake has been made, it might be too late at the worst, and it just doesn’t matter at the best.
The Riders of Justice experience is a reminder that international films are the cat’s meow. One can always count on a fresh perspective on a storyline that Hollywood has probably gone to that well a million too many times. Multi-national cinema hasn’t come a long way—they’ve always been “that” good. It’s just that Americans are finally showing the patience for “reading” subtitles. “If I wanted to read, I’d pick up a book,” is what some way. But something unique occurs when you read subtitles… you’re forced to pay attention and, in the process, a different cinematic experience results.
Films such as Riders of Justice are perfect examples of why it is important to intermingle your movie choices with an international flavor on occasion. Other countries come at storylines that we might be overly familiar with and have unique perspectives and as such, a simple vengeance tale can be anything but simple. That is absolutely the case with Mikkelsen’s latest.
Grade: A-