Directed by Anders Thomas Jensen — Screenplay by Anders Thomas Jensen.
Only a select few films can fill up theater rooms across Denmark like Anders Thomas Jensen’s directorial efforts can. Ever since he burst onto the scene with Flickering Lights, he has been a favorite for Danish filmgoers, and it is always genuinely delightful to see Danes flock to theaters whenever he has gotten ‘the gang back together’ (the gang always consists of Denmark’s two most popular actors Nikolaj Lie Kaas and Mads Mikkelsen) to tell a ‘black comedy’ narrative with absurd quirks and goofy but strangely lovable oddball characters. Now, he’s back again with The Last Viking (Danish title: Den Sidste Viking), which is yet another instantly successful Danish black comedy with some of Denmark’s most popular actors. It doesn’t quite hit the highs that Riders of Justice (Retfærdighedens Ryttere) did, but it is nonetheless quite good and will be very satisfying to those with a love for the wavelengths of Jensen’s oeuvre.
Anders Thomas Jensen’s The Last Viking follows Anker (played by Nikolaj Lie Kaas), a recently released criminal, who, fifteen years earlier, robbed a bank and entrusted his brother, Manfred (played by Mads Mikkelsen), with the money that was stolen. Now out of prison, Anker is desperate to start anew with the money he instructed Manfred to keep safe. However, a lot has changed since Anker went to prison. His brother has been diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder; he now identifies as John Lennon, and Anker struggles to get through to him and convince him to help him retrieve the money. Meanwhile, another criminal (played by Nicolas Bro) has put Anker under pressure to pay him the money or suffer the violent consequences. To get back the money, Anker will have to face truths he ‘buried’ long ago, accept his brother as who he wants to be, and go along with a plan to put together a band of musicians with dissociative identity disorder, meaning that their choice of songs may not exactly align with the musician personas they identify as. If you ever wanted to see John Lennon reunite the Beatles to sing ABBA songs in the Scandinavian wilderness, then, boy, have I found a film for you.
The Last Viking has similar ingredients to all the other Jensen black comedies that fans of his have come to know and love. It is a film that embraces the main characters’ lovable quirks and that is full of both violence, a Nordic comfort level with a blending of genres, witty (and sometimes intentionally silly) dialogue, and an empathetic approach to its often flawed protagonists. It’s got side-splitting characters, dialogue, and situations. One of the funniest scenes in the film is one in which Mikkelsen’s character keeps on poking holes in a rambling story told around a dinner table. At the same time, it also relies on physical slapstick comedy with Mikkelsen earning a lot of laughs for jumping out of windows or running away with a dog hidden in his jacket.
It is obviously designed as a sort of double act with Mikkelsen’s character being more of the funny guy to Kaas’ comedic foil, or straight man, but the film’s partial focus on repression of memory concerns them both, and Kaas’ character has his own issues. Both are quite good, with Mikkelsen being a standout as a borderline unrecognizable individual speaking nervously and risking life and limb to get to be seen as the person he wants to be, but Jensen does a good job of emphasizing that they’re both emotionally stunted. Kardo Razzazi is one of the film’s secret weapons, as the Swede whose dissociative identity disorder makes him uniquely interested in both assembling the band, singing ABBA songs, and saying things about the Holocaust (sometimes all in the very same scene). Nicolas Bro also has his moments playing against type as the film’s primary antagonist. Lars Brygmann, who was one of the shining stars of Riders of Justice, is still good fun here, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that he was, from a certain perspective, playing more or less the same beats that he did in the aforementioned film (he even repeats a joke from that film).
This Brygmann note, along with several elements that resemble previous Jensen films (particularly Flickering Lights), does make it feel like Anders Thomas Jensen’s film is not as original as you would expect. For as good as this film is (and it is quite fun), it also feels like the writer-director is repeating himself here. That said, I do think there are interesting modern elements to it. For example, the film can be read as Jensen’s reflection on contemporary struggles with identity (and a confrontation of his own generation’s attitudes toward modern identity). In this sense, the fact that a character insists on a new identity becomes a commentary on modern forms of self-definition and the importance of accepting it, even if it can be difficult to wrap your head around for some.
Anders Thomas Jensen’s The Last Viking is yet another all-round effective Danish black comedy. I had a blast with it, and I’m excited to see it again. As a longtime fan of Anders Thomas Jensen’s oeuvre, I will say that, on first viewing, this film feels more familiar than his last few films (and it repeats a joke or two from previous films of his), so it feels more like a remix than a completely new idea (even though it does have a few new elements up its sleeves), but if you’re someone who can get on his film’s wavelength, then this is sure to be a good time, especially with the right audience alongside you. I was already quoting it with my family less than an hour after the credits had rolled, though, so I think that is a good sign that, even if it isn’t among Jensen’s very best, it still has more than enough for it to stick with you.
8 out of 10
– Review written by Jeffrey Rex Bertelsen.
I'm Jeffrey Rex 