Summary
With The Trip featuring a marriage in crisis, the acting is on top form with moments that work well for its dark comedy approach. As a whole, though, there’s little to remember in this Norweigian film.
The review of the Netflix film The Trip (2021) does not contain any spoilers.
The initial premise of Netflix’s Norwegian dark comedy/thriller The Trip involves an unhappily married couple, Lisa (Noomi Rapace) and Lars (Aksel Hennie), who after a period of financial difficulty, have both decided to go for a weekend trip to their family cabin. The only issue is that each of them intends to murder the other. But little are they aware of the other dangers that are harboring in the cabin.
Naturally, with this kind of plot, initial comparisons will be made towards Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Both have troubled marriages, silly lines of dialogue, and the daft nature of story progression. The Trip, however, has a much darker undertone that surprisingly blends with the slapstick moments that occur throughout. And, of course, whilst watching Lisa and Lars, you can’t help but compare them to Joe and Love from You. Which isn’t a good thing. Unlike the mentioned series, this film has a fairly predictable end with very few shocks along the way.
The biggest strength of this film is the acting. Noomi Rapace and Aksel Hennie perform well in their roles. As a result, the love-hate relationship that they share is believable to watch. If you want to see more of them, watch Aksel in Headhunters and watch Rapace in a number of brilliant films that include The Girl franchise and What Happened to Monday.
Their superb acting is one of the main reasons to sit through the disastrous beginning. It’s silly, uninteresting, and out of place with the rest of the film. The only benefit to such a horrid start is that the film can only get better from there. Which it does, thankfully. The ending is decent enough, which after dealing with the main problem, brings it all back to the troubles faced in Lisa and Lars’s marriage.
With the release of The Trip coinciding with You Season 3, it may at first force the film into the shadows of Netflix releases. But whatever it is that you decide to do, do not watch this film dubbed. It’ll ruin it.
What did you think of the Netflix film The Trip (2021)? Comment below.
