Avis des critiques

The fun of the film (and it is often fun) is in the complexities of interconnections, and the sheer number of criminals raging through this tiny area, outnumbering the upstanding citizens by the looks of it... The killings are creative and brutal, but eventually, the whole structure of it, with the epitaphs announcing the deaths "in order of disappearance"—becomes an empty and slick exercise in style.

The filmmaker's concentration on the tools of his protagonist's trade early in the film has a payoff. Paring so far down to essentials that he skirts the edges of minimalism is trademark Moland.

Skarsgård mopes around throughout, largely ceding the film to the zoo of supporting actors, all of whom are TV-type crooks in the familiar post-Coen/Tarantino style and do not help the story's lack of conviction. The script is a good deal less mysterious, at least, than the odd original title, Kraftidioten ("power idiot"), the coinage of which has even my Norwegian friends scratching their heads.

Moland utilizes tropes with a sense of personality that's also his own. In Order of Disappearance has a distinctly Scandinavian matter-of-factness that resists the blowhard theatrics of most aging-white-avenger programmers.

Mainly, it's just fun to see Skarsgård, generally such a serious type – especially in Lars Von Trier's Nymphomaniac: Volume 1, also screening at the festival -- cutting loose for a change. This is Skarsgård's fourth film with Moland. In Order of Disappearance probably won't do for Skarsgård what Taken did for Liam Neeson – in other words, turn him into a late-middle-age action hero. This role is probably just a novelty for him, but that's OK. When Skarsgård blows, he doesn't blow.

As a Borgen fan, I enjoyed seeing Birgitte Hjort Sørensen again (she was Katrine Fønsmark on Borgen), even if her role is minor and paper thin. And again, I'm not going to deny laughing at some of the gags, but overall, I do wonder what this glorified TV thriller, gorgeous as some of the shots of the snow-covered mountains are, is doing in the Competition lineup.