Riders of Justice: NZIFF Film Review

A shaven-headed Mads Mikkelsen, a trio of helpers who make the Lone Gunmen look over-qualified, a plethora of Daddy Daughter issues and a side order of unexpected comedy all make up the mix of this Danish movie.

Mikkelsen is Markus, a war veteran who's forced to return home when his wife is killed in an apparent accident on a train. But when Markus is approached by the man who gave up his seat for his wife on the train, he is soon dragged into a conspiracy that claims the deaths were cover for the murder of a soon-to-testify witness who was on the train.

Angered by the death, and fuelled by the desire for revenge, Markus sets out to use his particular set of skills and get the closure he needs...

There's an intriguing mix of comedy, melancholy and masculinity issues in this thriller, that in truth, stretches about 20 minutes too long.

A script that's peppered with insights into grief helps things along, and a lashing of brutal violence ensures the tone never settles for something that's too indulgent. 

In amongst it all is a dead-eyed Mikkelsen, whose parental advice to his daughter who's struggling to come to terms with the death veers on the ice-cold realism that nobody needs in their darkest hour. But Mikkelsen keeps things taut and honed with a frisson of uncertainty as the story unfurls.

The black edges of Riders of Justice give the story an unpredictable trajectory that's worth clinging to, and the pearls of examination of masculinity cover the whole paradigm of fragility, over confidence and vulnerability with a sheen that's hard to shake.