Riders of Justice – Review

Riders of Justice will likely subvert your expectations, even if you read this review. The set-up is interesting, and the follow-through is fairly wild and unpredictable. Somewhat action, somewhat revenge, somewhat…something else, Riders of Justice is pretty good.

Opening with a demonstration of the chaos of life, a girl’s bike is stolen which knocks the dominos down and sends peoples' lives into a new path. Solider Markus (Mikkelsen) relays to his wife Emma that he unfortunately won’t be home soon, as another 3 months of duty was just tacked onto his deployment. She sighs, and returns to her morning issues of the car that won’t start and the daughter Mathilde (Gadeberg) whose subject bike has gone missing, therefore making them both late.

The women take the train, and are noticed by statistician Otto (Kaas). He stands, to offer the women his spot, and Mathilde’s mother takes the seated spot. Otto is having his own issues this morning, as he was recently denied further employment, after a somewhat disastrous presentation with his excitable business partner Lennart (Brygmann).

All of these people’s lives are impacted as a tragedy rocks the train, and a large explosion kills a handful of people, including Emma who wound up in the deadly zone. Otto and Mathilde wake up in the hospital, and Markus is given the news to head home.

As Otto watches news events related to the incident, he decides that it is very unlikely that everything is at it seems, and this was merely some accident. Among the few passengers killed in the unknown explosion was a key witness in an upcoming trial against a violent gang named the Riders of Justice.

Was this some kind of greater planned assassination? Honestly, the odds seemed pretty slim, but as Otto and his technologically enthusiastic pals begin looking into passengers on the train, some odd pieces start adding up. The men decide to rope in Markus, as he may have the skills needed to make the group into a force to be reckoned with.

That summary barely touches on the story honestly, and it is full of a ton of additional factors and interesting segues. The characters are interesting and multi-dimensional, and have interesting viewpoints, morals and actions. Many times, things do not go as expected, and the characters must evolve accordingly.

The script is quite funny at times, and also quite deadly serious with its action and story drama. While balancing many of these aspects is a challenge, the strong story is bolstered by a capable cast, especially in the lead Mikkelsen who is always great. This is a bit of a revenge flick, but absolutely not an average one.