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"The Trip" REVIEW

A bad vacation is about to become the world's worst vacation.

By Littlewit PhilipsPublished 2 years ago 4 min read
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Google claims that the original Norwegian title would directly translate to "In Bad Days."

Lars and Lisa take the "'til death do us part" of their vows very seriously, it seems. Their marriage isn't working out so great anymore, but will this couple seek out a divorce? Maybe some counselling? No, they have a different outcome in mind. One with more fatal consequences.

Lars' plot is simple: before their trip to their secluded cabin, Lars makes the effort to tell multiple people that Lisa wants to go on a dangerous hike all on her own. Meanwhile, he buys a hammer, rope, tape, and a saw from the hardware store. If everything goes according to his plan, when he returns home from their cabin without Lisa, he will be free and clear.

Only, nothing will go according to his plan, as he realises when Lisa jabs him with a taser. He didn't guess that she has a plan of her own.

This is only the beginning of their problems.

Initially screened in Norway back in July, The Trip is the Anglicised title given to I Onde Dager, and it is hard to imagine this movie coming out of the traditional Hollywood mold. See, while the set-up is pretty traditional thriller fare, The Trip takes many, many twists across it's nearly two-hour runtime. After initially taking shape as a domestic thriller, The Trip then wildly twists into the realm of absurdly dark comedy before adding intense violence to the mix. IMDb lists its genre as "Action Comedy Horror," and that wildly varied list feels accurate in this case.

Obviously, it's not uncommon for Hollywood to combine violence (and even outright horror) with comedy, but The Trip takes this further than many movies in recent memory, and it shifts between these tones without warning. One sequence starts with funny dialogue before morphing to an extended moment of attempted sexual violence that is played entirely seriously. The situation that Lars and Lisa find themselves in is equally absurd and horrific, and the movie is perfectly comfortable combining those two elements without really compromising either.

The question is: does this combination work?

Naturally, this is territory where your mileage may vary. The scene of sexual violence, for instance, is a very difficult watch, and it's made only stranger by the fact that a few minutes before the movie took time for a poop joke that really takes its time.

However, that's not to suggest that this movie won't work for anyone. If it does work for you, it will probably be on the strength of the script and the performances from the leads. For the first act of the film, when it wears the clothes of a domestic thriller, the movie patiently constructs the relationship between Lisa (Noomi Rapace) and Lars (Aksel Hennie). They manage to sell the idea that they really are a struggling couple through lifelike performances.

Minor comments and even compliments spiral out of control until they are screaming at each other in sequences that will feel familiar to anyone who has been in the final stage of a relationship that won't work out. It seems like neither member of the couple can say anything without setting the other off, and the actors sell this painful situation with unblinking sincerity.

This keeps the movie grounded as it spirals off into more and more absurd territory. By the end of the film, when all the dust is settling, so much has changed that it's difficult to imagine that this is the same film that began with bitter arguments about the price of wine, but it's only those mundane elements from the beginning that allow the movie to work as it swings wildly into bloody violence, poop jokes, and general brutality.

At times, the movie does feel like it is struggling to keep all of its component parts together. While Noomi Rapace and Aksel Hennie function as fairly realistic performers, the movie asks for other performers to become borderline cartoonish. For some viewers, this will keep The Trip from getting dull as it constantly shifts from one tone to another, the rapid pace demanding that the audience stay on its toes or risk being left behind. For others, this movie will undoubtedly feel uneven.

If you start the movie and become invested in its domestic-thriller elements, you might lose interest when the movie attempts comedy. If you find the comedy extremely funny, you might feel alienated by the extended, brutal scene of attempted rape. If you manage to stay with the movie between those two tones, it might lose your interest when it shifts into a more action-focused conclusion.

However, for some viewers, all of those elements will combine into a movie experience that feels totally unlike anything we've seen in the past few years. Those viewers can enjoy a movie that feels fresh, wild, and unpredictable. In most movies, you can generally guess at the vague shape of the ending within fifteen minutes or so. When I watched The Trip, I was still uncertain of the final destination until the epilogue played out.

"The Trip" is available via Netflix.

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About the Creator

Littlewit Philips

Short stories, movie reviews, and media essays.

Terribly fond of things that go bump in the night.

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