Review by Tristan Bishop
Stellan Skarsgard’s 40 year plus career has taken in a lot of different work, from his long-running collaborations with eternal enfant terrible of art-house cinema Lars Von Trier (so far he has appeared in six of the director’s films), to his roles in the recent Marvel Thor and Avengers films, to Hollywood misfires like The Exorcist: the Beginning/Dominion (2005). In Order Of Disappearance fits into the more low-key end of his filmography, but here the actor, now in his sixties, gets to shine in a leading role. Much of the advance publicity of the film has highlighted the likeness to the Taken series (incidentally also starring a man in his sixties), but, being Norwegian, you might expect a slightly different take to the OTT (yet admittedly very entertaining) Hollywood franchise. And you would be right.
Skarsgard here stars as the unfortunately named Nils Dickman (yes, other characters make fun of his name), an unassuming snow plough driver, and a Swedish emigrant to Norway who is the recipient of a good citizen’s award (he is later referred to, amusingly enough, as the ‘good kind of immigrant’). One day Nils and his wife learn of the death of their young son from an apparent overdose, it understandably puts strain on their marriage, and they break up, with Nils unable to accept that his son was a junkie, and his wife stricken with grief that she apparently never really knew their son. Things get so bad for Nils that he decides to take his own life, but whilst preparing for the act, he discovers by accident that his son was involved with a vicious gang of drug smugglers, and was bumped off with a lethal dose of heroin after his friend stole a kilo of cocaine from the gang. Nils decides to take his own form of revenge, and, using phone contact lists and a process of literal elimination, starts to hunt down the killers one by one, eventually deciding he is going to go all out and take down the people right at the top of the chain. He enlists the help of his brother Wingman (a great turn by Peter Andersson), a retired gangster dying of ‘cancer of the ass’ to track down a hitman to take out The Count (Pal Sverre Hagen), the heir to his father’s drug empire. However things get a little complicated along the way, as The Count believes that the people bumping off his employees must be connected to a Serbian drug gang that they had divided their territory with.
Those familiar with the dour twisty genre of Nordic Noir might be surprised at what is on offer here – ostensibly a simple revenge tale with a couple of minor twists, so initially the comparison with the Taken franchise seems fitting. However it soon becomes clear that In Order Of Disappearance is a much different beast. In place of a deluge of neck-snapping action scenes we get character development and quirky dialogue: scenes of the Count complaining about his son’s intake of fresh fruit and vegetables, or two hitmen discussing welfare in hot countries make for an altogether more charming and human film than the Liam Neeson series. In fact there’s a lot of humour here – whilst not the riotous comedy some reviewers have claimed, there’s a strong deadpan, jet black irony running through the film – although I did wonder at a few points whether something was being lost in translation. On a technical level the film is superb – stunning shots of the snow-covered landscape work with an arresting downbeat score (partially by Danish folk band CODY) to create a beautiful yet appropriately elegiac atmosphere, and the sense of place that director Hans Petter Moland (who, like Von Trier, has now worked several times with Skarsgard) creates is one of the most impressive things about the film. Equally impressive is the cast, notably the aforementioned Skarsgard, Andersson and Hagen, but also the great Bruno Ganz in a small but arresting role as Papa, head of the Serbian drug gang. Adding to the character of the film are the small notes that pop up onscreen noting the ‘disappearance’ of the characters from the film, including symbols to denote their religion. This makes for a few amusing moments, especially when we’re left to fill in the blanks when we don’t see any onscreen deaths for the characters denoted in this way.
On the downside the film could easily lose twenty minutes or so, being nearly two hours long, and whilst we’re invested in the characters, the plot developments are fairly predictable, but in the end it works as a likeably down-to-earth spin on the revenge thriller genre, and those who appreciate a chilly smile with their body count will find much to celebrate here.
In Order of Disappearance is released to Region 2 DVD on 2nd February 2015, from Metrodome.