In a sense, the rather lean theme of happenstance’s cruel randomness ties together two movies: a comedy of errors involving overeducated fools deluded enough to think they can hack the fabric of reality, and a rampaging Taken variant led by the stone-faced, brutal Markus.
The understated, deadpan delivery makes it possible for the film to be both a homage to the vendetta-Daddy genre exemplified by Taken and its ilk, and a complete subversion of its core philosophy: that a man can somehow rewrite the injustices of the world, especially those visited on his womenfolk, if he only has will enough.
“Riders of Justice” riffs on the “old man action hero” niche, recently dominated by Liam Neeson in a handful of synonymous titles including “The Commuter,” “Cold Pursuit,” and “Non-Stop,” movies spun out from the success of the “Taken” franchise.
Imagine the nerds from “The Big Bang Theory” stumbling into the plot of “Taken,” or pretty much any Liam Neeson out-for-revenge thriller.
Mads Mikkelsen stars as the scruffy hero in this gloriously violent Taken knockoff, doing his own spin on Liam Neeson, as a husband and father with a particular set of violent skills.
Mads Mikkelsen reunites with "Men & Chicken" director Anders Thomas Jensen for a bitterly comic "Taken" riff with a major cosmic twist.