“I Onde Dager” or “In Bad Days” (translated from Norwegian)
Directed by: Tommy Wirkola
Written by: Tommy Wirkola, Nick Ball, John Niven
Cast: Noomi Rapace, Aksel Hennie, Atle Antonsen, Chrisian Rubeck, Andre Eriksen
Have you ever loved someone so much you’d kill for them? Have you ever hated someone so much that you wanted to kill them? Meet Lisa (Rapace) and Lars (Hennie)! This couple is the embodiment of the kind of couple you hate, because they’re always bickering.
During the first few minutes of the film, you start to see how toxic this couple’s relationship is. Have you ever been around a couple that is so passive aggressive with constant low blows that it makes you uncomfortable? This is Lisa and Lars.
Lisa is an aspiring actress whose biggest break has been a commercial with the lines “Side effects may include…” Lisa dreams of being a writer and theatre actress, although it’s unclear if she’s got what it takes. Lisa is sensitive but strong and has big plans for her future.
Lars on the other hand is a TV director who hasn’t made anything significant and is currently going through the motions of life being a soap opera director. He’s made some bad decisions financially, and he’s pretty pathetic at first glance. Lars is the type of guy who puts on a front of being a good man, but in reality, he’s the kind of guy who can’t even pick up a rare steak with his bare hands. What a wuss!
Although Lars and Lisa bicker constantly, they do say some nice comments to each other every now and then. Seeing the sincere compliments makes this a very confusing couple. It’s perhaps a foreshadow of how psychotic they’ve become, where we find Lars and Lisa together for a quiet weekend get away at Lars’ father’s cabin near the lake.
After watching the trailer for this film, I wasn’t ready for what happened. The hatred for each other has festered so much that Lars is planning to kill his wife, cut her up, and dump her in the lake. He plans (badly) for this to go off without a hitch. With a hammer raised in his hand, ready to strike Lisa down forever, Lisa spins around and uses a taser on Lars knocking him out.
When Lars comes to after this, he’s confronted by Lisa with what he planned on doing. The next few scenes were definitely unexpected. I don’t want to give away too much here. While Lars and Lisa are in the throes of fighting, we meet Lars and Lisa’s unexpected guests.
Petter (Antonsen) Dave (Rubeck) and Roy, (Eriksen) literally drop in on Lars and Lisa. To our couple, these guys come out of nowhere. Turns out, Petter, Dave, and Roy are freshly escaped from federal pound me in the ass prison. These guys don’t fuck around, and now Lars and Lisa are on the chopping block.
Petter is a psychopath, Dave is sadistic, and Roy is a damn Nazi! In the first few minutes of meeting these guys, you think they might be something along the lines of the fellows from O Brother Where Art Thou? But pretty quickly you come to hate these guys and start rooting for Lisa and Lars.
This film warns of violence and language and smoking, but it really should include a trigger warning for something much more visceral. There is scene that skates on a fine line between horrifying and funny, for the irony of the situation. Lisa and Lars are put in a very very bad position while the convicts decide what they should do with them. While they’ve come to hate each other enough to kill, their deep love for each other is put to the test as the couple try to run away with their own lives.
The Trip was worth the watch. Not the best film of its kind, and while it’s got some dark humor, I wouldn’t necessarily call this a comedy. There is plenty of gore in this film which any horror buff will probably appreciate. Although, it’s not a horror film either. Taking a look at my previous review of Villains, I’m not sure where to place this film.
Director Tommy Wirkola cast this perfectly, and it’s funny that practically every film I’ve seen Noomi Rapace in, she’s running for her god damn life! The effects were on point, the writing was great, (I think –I watched it dubbed in English) and everyone, save maybe one or two side characters, was impressive in their roles.
Overall, The Trip is a great movie to watch only if you’re ready for a lot of blood, gore, and violence. While this film reminded me of several concepts from other films including Mr. and Mrs. Smith, the end has a really satisfying (for me) twist. I really liked it, and if you’re into films like this, you’ll really enjoy The Trip too.
