After serving fourteen years for robbery, Anker is released from prison and reunites with his mentally ill brother Manfred, who alone knows where the stolen money is hidden but has forgotten its location, sending them on a journey to recover the loot and confront who they are.
Ratings
Curator score: 6.6/10
IMDb: 7.2/10
Letterboxd: 3.63/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 92%
Metacritic: 82
TMDB: 7.2/10
Director
Anders Thomas Jensen
Production
Zentropa Entertainments, Film i Väst, Zentropa International Sweden
Cast
Mads Mikkelsen, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Sofie Gråbøl, Søren Malling, Bodil Jørgensen, Lars Brygmann, Nicolas Bro, Kardo Razzazi, Peter Düring, Lars Ranthe, Rikke Louise Andersson, Alfred Røssel Læsø, Joel Hesse Johansen, Nomi Bodnia, Anette Støvelbæk, Lila Nobel, Bue Wandahl, Susanne Breuning, Klaus Tilsted Søndergaard, Benjamin Kitter
Curator Review
Verdict
A sharp, offbeat Danish crime comedy with a melancholy heart, driven by absurdist humor, sibling dysfunction, and a surprisingly emotional search for identity and memory. It sounds especially appealing if you like deadpan violence, eccentric characters, and stories that balance chaos with tenderness.
Best for
Fans of dark European crime comedies
Viewers who like absurdist, deadpan humor
People drawn to damaged-family stories
Audiences who enjoy violent capers with emotional undercurrents
Fans of Mads Mikkelsen and Nikolaj Lie Kaas
Skip if
You want a straightforward heist movie
You dislike black comedy or tonal whiplash
You prefer realism over heightened absurdity
You are sensitive to jokes involving mental illness or historical trauma
Overview
The Last Viking looks like Anders Thomas Jensen doing what he does best: turning a criminal premise into a weirdly humane fable about broken men, loyalty, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive. The setup is simple enough — a released robber, a forgotten stash, a brother with mental illness — but the execution seems to lean into escalating absurdity rather than clean genre mechanics.
Worth noting
The Letterboxd response points to a movie that is both very funny and very strange, with a stream of deadpan gags, sudden violence, and a running gag energy that feels almost cartoonish in its consequences. That kind of tonal collision is part of the appeal: the film appears to treat grief, memory, and identity with real feeling while surrounding them with lunatic behavior and outrageous detours.
Bottom line
What makes it stand out is the emotional core beneath the chaos. This is not just a caper about stolen money; it is a reunion story about two men forced to confront the damage in their lives and the myths they’ve built around themselves. If the balance lands for you, it should be a very memorable watch.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Letizia (4★) · 1134 likes
why bother doing four movies about the beatles when you can have Paul-George in one person
Christian Micheletti (4★) · 863 likes
Danish humor be like Tom & Jerry with irl consequences
oliviaviewed (5★) · 813 likes
You have no idea what being the son of the only IKEA store manager to ever have their location close does to the mind of a child.
Óisin! (4★) · 649 likes
When your circle small but y'all crazy!
Jarne Estievenart (3.5★) · 491 likes
Probably the only movie you'll ever see where The Beatles, Ikea and the holocaust are equally important to the plot.
1998 · Crime, Drama, Thriller · 2h 1m · R · Curator 8.0/10 (147.9K ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, MGM Plus, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
A darker, more tragic companion piece about money, guilt, and the collapse of ordinary lives.
Topics
dark comedy, crime dramedy, absurdist, Danish cinema, black humor, heist aftermath, family dysfunction, road movie, violent farce, emotional ensemble