Cert – 15, Run-time – 1 hour 56 minutes, Director – Anders Thomas Jensen
After being released from prison Anker (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) goes to his brother, Manfred (Mads Mikkelsen), to find the money he stole. However, Manfred has DID, believing he’s John Lennon, and can’t remember where it’s hidden.
As director, Anders Thomas Jensen has found a home blending genres with deadpan Danish expressions and dark comedy. Often placing them into ever so slightly off-kilter situations, or pulling occasional comedic beats from the seriousness of the narrative – such as in his previous feature, 2020’s Riders Of Justice. While not a complete stumble, the writer-director’s latest feature, The Last Viking, suggests that there’s only so much that can be brought together under one style before feeling too busy.
Busyness may not quite be the right term for The Last Viking, but it certainly falters under the various tones that are at play amongst the dead-pan style. Anker (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) has just been released from prison having committed a bank robbery. One of his first actions is to visit his brother, Manfred (Mads Mikkelsen) to find out where the money has been buried. However, past trauma, Dissociative Identity Disorder, and the belief that he’s John Lennon – cue a selection of ill-performed Beatles tracks – mean that Manfred has forgotten where he hid the money years before.
As a history of trauma for the brothers is looked at alongside a potential therapy with other DID patients who believe they’re the other members of The Beatles – although one amusingly only performs ABBA songs – things start to feel slightly rough around the edges as they play out around Anker’s search for the loot from his bank job years prior. Each strand has a slightly different tone, mixing the comedic and dramatic styles that are at play, but not quite enough for them to fully gel together. Yes, there are effective ideas at play in the final stages; even if still featuring in tonally shifting flashbacks which could land more of an effect in a slightly more consistent film, but as a whole the near two-hour run-time largely feels like its feeling changes every couple of scenes.
Mikkelsen and Kaas, both of whom have worked previously with Jensen, put in good performances, helping to lift a somewhat scattered script. The supporting cast, too, put in good turns, especially during bigger, more heated interactions. There are ideas about what people have done with and made of their lives, what they’ve wanted for them and have done/ are doing instead. As the film reaches its conclusion these link rather well with the pasts of the central siblings, although I do wish that they had been given a bit more space and time to breathe.
For the most part The Last Viking is an interesting film that has its moments, especially those focusing on the connections formed between the characters. Whether the history of the central pair, or a simple jam session where nobody is playing the same song. Unfortunately, the tonal shifts start to create a slightly bumpy journey where, much like the money being searched for, the core ideas can start to feel a bit buried amongst the changes between the strands at hand.
A likable slice of Danish deadpan that occasionally loses its bigger ideas in its tonal shifts. While there’s some amusement, and emotional connection on and off screen in the third act, it can sometimes be a bumpy journey to get there.
Just A Little Bit Random 