Riders of Justice (15)
Directed by Anders Thomas Jensen

THE THEFT to order of a blue bicycle sets a chain of random events in motion which brings together a group of eclectic and damaged people, forced to confront their demons in this deliciously dark yet humorous Danish revenge thriller. Are these incidents merely a series of coincidences or fate and an act of God?

Teaming up with writer and director Anders Thomas Jensen for the fifth time, a virtually unrecognisable Mads Mikkelsen shows what a formidable leading man he is as Markus, a military guy who returns home to his teenage daughter Mathilde (Andrea Heick Gadeberg) when his wife dies in a tragic train accident.

But when a mathematics geek (Nikolaj Lie Kaas), who was also on the train and gave up his seat to Markus’s wife, turns up with his two nerdy and obsessive colleagues (Lars Brygmann and Nicolas Bro), they show Markus that it wasn’t an accident and embark on a destructive path.

Jensen very skilfully blends drama, comedy, action thriller and Western tropes to explore grief and loss and the struggle to make sense of the death of a loved one. Non-believer Markus resorts to violence, while Mathilde finds solace in her faith and crisis counselling which her dad won’t contemplate as they grapple with their fractious father-and-daughter relationship.

The film also goes to exceedingly sinister and disturbing places — including child abuse and sex slavery —  which are offset by surprisingly funny moments provided by the bickering three amigos Otto (Kaas), Lennart (Brygmann) and Emmenthaler (Bro). They are reminiscent of the Lone Gunmen in the X-Files, just more paranoid and screwed up.

Every character is grasping to find meaning in their lives as they plunge down the deadly rabbit hole of this beautifully crafted tragi-comedy of errors, a surreal and gripping revenge thriller with unexpected hidden depths.