After a seemingly random commuter train accident claims the life of his wife, Markus (Mads Mikkelsen) returns home from active duty to console his surviving daughter and put the pieces of a broken life back together. When two computer nerds, Otto (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) and Lennart (Lars Brygmann) try to convince Markus it was more than an accident the film switches into detective mode.
After that, it departs from both expectations and conventional plot devices known to the genre. Underlying its tilt into becoming a revenge yarn are so many divergent elements it becomes something unique and draws you in via a number of unexpected ways. You start to care and sympathise with this rag-tag group of outcasts.
Their idiosyncrasies and odd behavioural quirks are explained in snippets and the unfurling of these tightly wound characters provides almost constant entertainment. The education is filtered through societal norms that limit expression and restrict the easing of sorrow. This limitation is cast off in a most enthralling way.
Riders of Justice is a chaotic yet human blast to the senses and plays on the surprises awaiting those that have accumulated a lifetime of cliche cinematic moments. The unexpected result is falling for a group with who you feel no affinity for and then ultimately feel a universal connection with.
Rob Hudson
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