In Order of Disappearance

It snows thick and heavy in Norway and as often as possible snow plough operator and citizen of the year Nils (Stellan Skarsgård) clears it away. This is until his son is found dead from a heroin overdose. Nils is sure he was murdered and sets about finding those responsible and then to take his revenge. In his way to dispatching the person he holds responsible however is a sordid bunch of criminals and villains, whose deaths ultimately spark a drug turf war, a kidnapping and mistaken identities.

On the face of it this is the sort of film that many would love to watch on a Saturday night as a bit of escapist fun but in my opinion it is quite a bit more than that. It is best to start by saying this film is to serious crime thrillers and action films what hotdogs are to the culinary arts. So if you wanted either of those, you may want another tree to bark up… This is however a superb black comedy filled with little touches of dark humour and parody. You have seen Liam Neeson in Taken, now see Stellan in this, haphazardly fighting and killing his way through a bunch of grotty low lives. He does this quite well, if not slightly more out of breath while being a little less vigorous with the moves. I loved many of the elements like this in the film, these little touches of comic truths and with the Expendables 3 floating around, at least Stellan does keep bleating on about being ‘too old’, he gets on with it!

It has many highs for instance the characters are well constructed and fleshed out. The lead villains are not only believable but also great fun, especially Bruno Ganz who gets the award for best godfather impression. The little epitaphs after a character is bumped off feel fresh and explain what isn’t shown, moving things along. The odd set decorations is also great, face chairs and hands galore make for a surreal spectacle. This made me recall a James Bond villain of the sixties and I found myself chuckling like a school girl…ahhh the good life! The top of this list of highlights of course was the brother and his wife who reminded me of the film Fargo in a good way. Linking these two films is easy but this is a whole different ball game. A more accurate comparison would be like watching Shaft, if Shaft were white, Norwegian and old. It does have lows, mainly with the tone of some scenes at the start. They are a little off balance and the audience might find it a little confusing but it is trying to settle you in for a rather different ride. The other thing was the name joke which wore a little by the end.

There is much to love this film for and I know that you will want to see what I am making such a fuss about, so go and see it! The film has many genuine touches of real comedy that may escape you at first visit and as such a second visit is worth it to see some of the things you missed, like the rather odd dispatching methods.

Or should I start a snow plough and chase you to the theatre?