The Trip

When I saw Tommy Wirkola's name attached as director, I had no doubt this film was going to be a blast. The film is a wild ride about two people who head to a cabin with the intent to kill each other, only to find themselves caught in a series of absurd and unexpected situations that turn into a fight for survival. I had a great time watching it — it gave me serious Shaun of the Dead vibes, which is the gold standard for me when it comes to this kind of film. The only thing missing was a punchier soundtrack. If that had been there, I wouldn’t have hesitated to give it five stars. Still, Noomi Rapace and Aksel Hennie were absolutely fantastic. (10/22/2021)

Tommy Wirkola surprised me with What Happened to Monday and Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, but this one oddly enough didn't work so well with me. It has to be said up front that this is a slightly different film than what one would think of as classic Norway. The first half is a little heavy-handed, but then the film picks up and manages to entertain relatively well. The idea of three prison escapees in a house isn't terribly original, the acting is average, and otherwise the film generally doesn't pull anything off. It's kind of an ordinary cross between a parody and a home invasion flick with decent gore, but it only goes halfway in both directions and didn't really come together for me in the end. I had the feeling the whole time that I didn't care what happened next in the film. A golden average - nothing terrible, but nothing to cheer about like others here. (10/19/2021)

Check it out, it's really funny, he said. And although it's not a comedy the way I normally think of them, he was right. The comic aspect here, among other things, works brilliantly. The characters are likable and lukewarm at the same time, making for a rather unique spectacle that you definitely don't want to walk away from. (12/14/2021)

We already know that Tommy Wirkola is talented and even though this time he chose a more intimate film than his previous works, it works well, even if I have minor complaints. It's a bit of a variation on the Russian film Why Don't You Just Die!, but more in tone, style and brutality than in concept. A married couple go to a cabin with the intention of killing each other, and this is complicated by an unexpected visit from three idiots. The pacing is slower and the humour works about halfway. It's a kind of adult humour where serious topics are discussed with a light and black-humored tone so it depends on taste, I would have liked something a little different and would definitely have cut the film by about 30 minutes. When it came to the violence, however, Wirkola is nicely brutal, spares no great ideas and makes great use of all the tools around him (though there are a couple of sequences that are just a tease, like the one with the shotgun and the one with the lawnmower). Overall, decent and entertaining, but I was slightly hoping to be a bit more satisfied. Story 3/5, Action 4/5, Humor 3/5, Violence 4/5, Fun 4/5 Music 3/5, Visuals 3/5, Atmosphere 4/5, Suspense 3/5, Emotion 3/5, Actors 3/5. 7/10. (10/15/2021)

A cynical comedy, subversive and bloody, thanks to Wirkola. After years of marriage, a married couple can’t stand being together after all these years and so each of them invites the other to their country cottage with the aim of killing them. Rapace is splendidly two-faced and Hennie’s transformation over the course of the second half is worthy of praise. The occasional explanatory asides that this movie is peppered with don’t seem to be cheap helpers, but carry a large portion of typical Norwegian humor inside them. The ending is a perfect reflection of today’s society. (10/22/2021)