Generally even probably the most foolproof plans — like committing a theft figuring out you’re going to be caught and imprisoned for 15 years, however asking your odd duck of a brother to cover half the loot below a tree on the childhood house you now not personal — can go awry.
However to be truthful to Anker (Nikolaj Lie Kaas), most of the key elements of his plan really work. He does get out of jail in 15 years with good conduct, and the cash is kind of the place he anticipated it to be. However lots can change in a decade and a half, and even probably the most good criminals might hardly be anticipated to foretell developments like a youthful brother (Mads Mikkelsen) processing his trauma over dropping you by turning into so satisfied he’s John Lennon that he compulsively makes an attempt suicide every time his authorized identify is talked about. Or the emergence of a booming trip rental trade that turned your childhood house into a preferred weekend getaway with frustratingly extroverted hosts.
So begins “The Final Viking,” one other fantastically darkish comedy about grownup siblings from “Males & Rooster” director Anders Thomas Jensen. The director’s frequent collaborators Kass and Mikkelsen have spent sufficient time onscreen collectively to be completely plausible in a sibling relationship that’s formed by 30 years of dangerous vibes. Mikkelsen’s Manfred (however don’t you dare name him something however John) has been socially challenged for so long as anybody can bear in mind, and his insistence on sporting Viking regalia to high school as a baby made him a straightforward goal for bullies. The burden of defending him (from each merciless classmates and an offended father who couldn’t perceive why his son couldn’t be regular) at all times fell on Anker, which had the inverse impact of hardening him whereas softening his brother into a person who doesn’t know find out how to exist with out the safety of others.
Fifteen years of separation led them to develop even additional aside, although, and a once-symbiotic relationship has advanced into one thing significantly extra prickly. When Anker emerges from jail, he expects the arduous a part of his life to be over. However simply when he needs to sit back and having fun with his hard-stolen wealth, he walks right into a minefield. Manfred greets him with about 100 dinner rolls (his favourite, when served sparsely) and a declaration that he’ll solely be addressed as John Lennon. Jail doesn’t precisely put together a middle-aged man for such social nuances, however rising strain to pay one among his outdated associates forces Anker to navigate the uneven waters with the intention to safe the cash that Manfred buried for him.
The 2 males head to their childhood house, now an Airbnb run by a pair whose marriage is hanging by the thinnest of threads. Margrethe (Sofie Gråbøl) at all times thought she was too sizzling to marry Werner (Søren Malling), and watching him waste many years of his life procrastinating his dream of beginning a clothes line adopted by one other seven years of making an attempt to think about a subject for a kids’s guide hasn’t precisely offered the spark of attraction she wanted. An ungainly dinner makes it clear that each duos really feel like they’re getting the quick finish of the stick, with Margrethe delay by Manfred’s abrasive conduct and Anker resenting the marital awkwardness he’s compelled to witness.
What might have merely been an disagreeable weekend turns significantly extra memorable with the arrival of Lothar (Lars Brygmann), a psychiatrist who beforehand handled Manfred. He believes he has an answer that may flip the troubled would-be-Beatle again into his regular self: type a band comprised of each different psychological affected person who thinks he’s a Beatle and permit them to rehearse and placed on a present. There are solely two different such males in Europe, however fortuitously one believes that he’s each Paul and George, so there’s sufficient to discipline a band so long as he has ample time to modify between devices.
“The Final Viking” elegantly juxtaposes the ludicrousness of the state of affairs (one of many funniest facet plots is Werner’s avid Beatle fandom and his apparently honest perception that this makeshift band goes to ship prime quality covers) with the trauma that underscores the ridiculousness occasions. Manfred’s insistence on forgetting his personal identification turns into a method into exploring our outstanding collective means to overlook issues we’d somewhat not bear in mind. And after co-starring in six of Jensen’s movies collectively, Kaas and Mikkelsen depend on their hard-earned chemistry to discover all the small cracks within the relationship with out ever devolving into gimmickry.
The movie takes its identify from a narrative that Manfred relied on as a method of dealing with childhood bullies, a few tribe of vikings who every minimize off one among their arms with the intention to make one brother who misplaced his arm in battle really feel much less alone. Like nearly the whole lot that anybody in “The Final Viking” makes an attempt, the plot is well-intentioned however ill-advised. That rigidity is what bridges the hole between the pro-Beatles sentimentality of “Yesterday” and the bloody heist aftermath of “Reservoir Canine” to supply the emotional core of a successful movie: being your self may topic everybody round you to pointless hardships and occasional violence, however that’s no motive to not do it anyway.
Grade: B+
“The Final Viking” premiered on the 2025 Venice Worldwide Movie Pageant. It’s at present in search of U.S. distribution.
Wish to keep updated on IndieWire’s movie opinions and demanding ideas? Subscribe right here to our newly launched e-newsletter, In Evaluation by David Ehrlich, through which our Chief Movie Critic and Head Critiques Editor rounds up the most effective new opinions and streaming picks together with some unique musings — all solely out there to subscribers.
