Wild Men review – the world’s worst Viking goes off grid | Film
You wouldn’t assume it doable to commit armed theft by chance. However that’s precisely what occurs to poor clueless Martin when he will get into an altercation with an attendant at a petroleum station whereas dressed as a Viking in animal furs, with axe in hand. Martin has run away to the snow-capped mountains to hunt, forage and discover the that means of life. The snag is that his survival expertise are extra Alan Partridge than Bear Grylls – therefore the foray to the petrol station for beer and crisps.
The Danish film-maker Thomas Daneskov’s deadpan midlife-crisis comedy has some brilliantly absurd moments akin to this. Rasmus Bjerg performs Martin, who has tried half-marathons and street biking, however nonetheless feels useless inside. Telling his long-suffering spouse, Anne (The Killing’s Sofie Gråbøl), that he’s off to a team-building seminar, Martin as a substitute heads to Norway to play out his Viking fantasies. Bjerg’s efficiency is pitch good, enjoying it deliciously straight as this gormless bumbler, who goes full Fred Flintstone along with his ridiculous animal-pelt costume however can’t bear to half along with his iPhone. Daneskov frames Bjerg’s nice huge, expressive face in entrance of the icily majestic panorama for optimum comedy.
Martin has been residing because the world’s worst Viking for a few week and has simply robbed the petrol station when he stumbles throughout Musa (Zaki Youssef), a weed smuggler injured in a automotive crash. It’s about right here that the police become involved and the film turns Fargo-ish. Bjørn Sundquist is terrific as Øyvind, a retirement-age police chief with Jack Nicholson eyebrows and a passion for fly fishing. Every time he asks for the police sniffer canine, Øyvind will get the identical reply: it’s the mutt’s day without work. There are some very humorous scenes and a fairly tense shootout finale – although the sentimental ending felt to me like a little bit of a cop-out. And it’s a disgrace that Gråbøl (carrying a garbage jumper) is lumbered with a nothing-interesting position as Martin’s wait-behind spouse.
