Concept: A quirky crime drama about a Norwegian snow plower who plows criminals instead of snow to avenge the death of his son.

The original title of “In Order of Disappearance” (a Norwegian movie) is “Kraftidioten,” or “Idiot Power,” as translated by Google. The “idiot” part of the title is probably referring to all the criminal elements portrayed in the film; they’re not exactly the brightest bulbs in the hardware store, and I suppose if they were, they would find more legal ways to make a living.

So you probably get by now that this is not your typical Dad-is-mad revenge action flick; it’s a witty and entertaining combination of an action movie, a gangster film and a black comedy all rolled up into one strange experience. The filmmakers were smart to start with heavy drama in the murder of the plower’s son, and then gradually and subtly bring in the dark and funny cynicism. They were also smart to pick Stellan Skarsgård for the leading role of the Dad snow-plower; Skarsgård is one of the best actors alive today, and he puts in a great performance here. But for all its cleverness and action, the movie is surprisingly unemotional. The movie doesn’t really pull you in as Mel Gibson did in his angry Dad role for “Blood Father.” “Kraftidioten” amazes you with its cleverness but really doesn’t make you feel much of anything else. This kind of movie should have your heart pounding with dread for the fate of the main character, and with outrage or fear (or both) at the villains; the South Korean movie “A Bad Day,” another black comedy/crime thriller/action flick, accomplishes all this while still managing to be quite clever.  But “In Order of Disappearance” is as cold as the beautiful, snowy Norwegian landscape that forms the setting of this movie. Nevertheless, it entertains. I would have given this movie a higher rating if not for one thing—the very last moments of the film.

I can’t give details because I don’t want to give away spoilers for the movie, but the last moments are radically preposterous. Crazy things happen throughout the movie, but they always feel like they’re in the realm of logical probability within the universe that’s created. But the last event is so ludicrous that it spoils the illusion of crazy realism that the rest of the movie had. I couldn’t believe the last minute was so stupid, so I thought of other alternative explanations for it. However, I later did my research on the Internet and yup, it was as stupid if not stupider than I thought. So I reduced the movie rating from the 73% I might have given it to 68%. Norway has been coming out with great films and TV programs in recent years, but somebody has to tell them not to spoil their work with lame last moments like this. If you see the movie and you want the ending explained, click HERE. (But don’t see my explanation without seeing the movie, because the explanation has huge spoilers.)

In sum, this film is another decent work from Norway, but not as good as it could have been.

Not For Kids
Norwegian with English subtitles

Extra:

• I saw somewhere that a remake may be made with Liam Neeson playing the angry Dad role (2021 Update: It was, and the movie is called “Cold Pursuit”). I don’t think that’s a good idea. So much of the funny humor was related to things specific to Norway and Norway alone. The tale would lose its uniqueness if you were to transport it to somewhere else, make it in English, and cast somebody who’s played the Mad Dad role a million times. (2021 Update: I haven’t seen “Cold Pursuit” but based on reviews, it looks like it did lose whatever magic the original had.)