Riders of Justice

“Rider of Justice” is a cool, quirky film that features a heavyweight performance from Mads Mikkelsen.

Oh, Mads Mikkelsen, you delightfully eccentric being you. There are not many actors I can say that mesmerize me, but Mr. Mikkelsen is on that shortlist. His ability to project one thing but to have something completely different bubbling just under the surface is second to none. Mikkelsen headlines an equally fantastic cast in the quirky action/drama/black comedy “Riders of Justice, a film that is not what it appears on the surface. Sound familiar?

At face value, I was expecting “Riders of Justice” to be a typical over-the-top shoot ‘em up flick in the vein of Liam Neeson’s late-career resurgence. Instead, what I got was a touching tale of a man struggling to connect with his daughter while equally struggling to connect with himself after the death of his wife.

“Riders of Justice” hits like a Coen Brothers flick with a great blend of quirky weirdness, but with feeling and a real-world tug at your heart that helps it ring true. Yes, there are plenty of bullets flying around. Yes, there is violence or the threat of violence around each turn, but the film is so much more than that, and I hope that doesn’t get lost.

Markus (Mikkelsen) is a soldier who’s in his element in the field of battle. He is called back home when his wife Emma (Anne Birgitte Lind) is killed in a subway accident. He then sets about trying to put the tragedy behind himself and his grieving daughter Mathilde (Andrea Heick Gadeberg), who was just feet away from her mother but survived the accident.

His plan is complicated by Otto (Nikolaj Lie Kaas), the man who gave up his seat to Emma, who by using his background in numbers, concludes the crash was not an accident at all, but a contracted hit to take out a person who was set to testify in a high-profile court case. Otto recruits two friends Lennart (Lars Brygmann) and Emmenthaler (Nicolas Bro), who convinces Markus the accident was more than it appears. This sets off a chain of events that continues to unravel Markus and Mathilde’s relationship.

Markus utilizes his military skills to take action against the Rider of Justice, the group Otto has identified as being involved. As the body count begins to pile up, Otto realizes the path he has set in motion was moved in the wrong direction due to his own manipulation of the numbers as he tried to give a greater meaning to the accident.

This all comes to a head when the Rider of Justice shows up at Markus’s house and the only thing standing between him losing Mathilde, the only family he has left, is himself. What results is a confrontation that finally allows Markus to reveal his true self to his daughter.

“Rider of Justice” was quite a surprise. I settled in expecting one thing and found myself being moved by a cleverly told story that highlighted the importance of family – whether by blood or by friendship. I thought writer/director Anders Thomas Jensen did a great job balancing the two elements of the story. I really enjoyed how the film shows that a simple act of choosing a different bicycle color can have ramifications that can spiderweb well beyond and impact lives you’ve never met.

“Rider of Justice” is a cool, quirky film that features a heavyweight performance from Mads Mikkelsen and a cast that creates memorable characters whose flaws ultimately become a strength they use to make a difference.