The “grizzled older badass extracting revenge on people who unwittingly screwed with them” has become a tired trope in the years since Liam Neeson first warned of his “particular set of skills” in 2008’s TAKEN. Since then, almost every action star, or older actor trying to revitalize their career, has done a film with a similar setup, leading to understandably mixed results. With so many examples of this action subgenre around now, it takes exceptional talent and a unique approach to make one of these projects interesting.
RIDERS OF JUSTICE, which just had its first English language trailer released to the internet certainly has all that. It stars Mads Mikkelsen and is directed by Danish filmmaker Anders Thomas Jensen. The pair have worked together multiple times, most recently on the bizarre and darkly hilarious Danish-language comedy MEN & CHICKEN from 2015.
With RIDERS OF JUSTICE, the pair are bringing their strange comedic sensibilities to the action/revenge genre with a film that frankly looks like one not to be missed. Here is the official synopsis:
RIDERS OF JUSTICE follows the recently-deployed Markus, who is forced to return home to care for his teenage daughter after his wife is killed in a tragic train accident. But when a survivor of the wrecked train surfaces claiming foul play, Markus begins to suspect his wife was murdered and embarks on a mission to find those responsible.
And here is the just released trailer, courtesy of Magnet’s Official YouTube page:
Magnet Releasing will open the film in NY and LA on May 14, 2021 and everywhere else on the 21st.
Between this and the news that Mikkelsen has recently joined the cast of the long-gestating fifth Indiana Jones film, fans of the Danish actor have a lot to look forward to in the coming months!
