Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		3.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.5

Riders of Justice Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov February 14, 2022

Anders Thomas Jensen's "Riders of Justice" (2020) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Magnolia Home Entertainment. There are no bonus features on the release. In Danish or English, with optional English and English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

When I was preparing my Top Ten list in early December, I had an awfully difficult time deciding whether to place on it Another Round or Riders of Justice. They were two of the very best foreign films I saw in 2021, and Mads Mikkelsen was incredible in both. At the end, I chose the former, but only because I thought that Sony’s technical presentation of it was more convincing.

Riders of Justice is the fifth film director Anders Thomas Jensen has made with Mikkelsen and Nikolaj Lie Kass, and the fourth with Nicolas Bro. You need to know this because it is arguably the main reason everything that happens in Riders of Justice looks and feels so organic, which is an incredible accomplishment. I will explain exactly why later on.

In Tallinn, Estonia, a teenage girl asks an elderly uncle to buy her a bicycle for Christmas, even though the special holiday is still a few months away. They decide to pick up a used one from a street vendor, but at the last moment change their mind because it isn’t the right color. Shortly after, the vendor makes a phone call and his associates steal another bicycle with the right color somewhere in provincial Denmark. On the following day, the owner of the stolen bicycle, another teenage girl named Mathilde (Andrea Heick Gadeberg), asks her mother to give her a ride to school, but when their car refuses to start, they are forced to take the train. Moments after they get on the train, however, a massive explosion destroys it and Mathilde’s mother dies in the debris. Thousands of miles away in a desert region of the Middle East, Mathilde’s father, Markus (Mikkelsen), a military man, is given the awful news and immediately placed on a government plane that transports him back home. At the hospital, Markus is then briefed how his beloved wife died in the accident.

But a few days later, while grieving at home, Markus is contacted by computer statistician Otto (Kass), a survivor from the train, and his two best pals, Lennart (Lars Brygmann), also a computer statistician, and Emmenthaler (Bro), an introverted hacker. Even though Otto cannot be one hundred percent certain, he declares before Markus that he has seen enough to conclude that the explosion that derailed the train was not caused by a technical malfunction. At first Markus discards Otto’s theory, but later on changes his mind and decides to test it. With Lennart’s invaluable help, the group is able to identify a high-profile target that was killed on the train, and then gather enough evidence that the accident was likely staged by, or on behalf of, members of the notorious gang Riders of Justice.

It may appear from the above description that Riders of Justice is a conventional thriller in which a devastated husband and father would begin searching for the truth and eventually avenge the death of his wife, but the concept behind it is actually a lot more complex. Believe it or not, it is why there are so many articles that completely mischaracterize its tone, drama, sense of humor, and environment.

At the center of Riders of Justice is the ancient take on life as a never-ending cycle of tragic and comic events. However, instead of defining the cycle, and specifically whether the relationship between these events is part of an order that could be predicted, Riders of Justice uses its narrative as something of a litmus test that ought to help the viewer formulate a proper understanding of it. Yes, a conventional take on its personal drama works too because its resolution is both logical and satisfying, but there are plenty of clues confirming that Riders of Justice is fascinated with the manner in which people’s existence is affected by decisions and events that are interconnected in a variety of different ways.

Unsurprisingly, the environment that emerges in Riders of Justice becomes incredibly fluid, but without losing its sense of authenticity. Indeed, the typically clear line that separates the dangerous and ugly from the funny and charming in mainstream genre films is practically invisible in it because the tragic and comic events are left to overlap in much the same manner they do in real life. In other words, even though the screenplay introduces a unique story, it sums up reality like a tabloid -- it is a mish-mash of contrasting events that affect people in entirely different ways.

The very special chemistry between Jensen and the leads is the glue that holds the entire project together. There are a lot of rapid mood swings, for instance, that would not have looked convincing without Jensen connecting with the leads in ways that are just perfect. Without this special chemistry, Riders of Justice almost certainly would have looked like an over/undercooked Quentin Tarantino film.

Riders of Justice Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.39:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Riders of Justice arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Magnolia Home Entertainment.

Riders of Justice is a very recent film that was shot digitally, so it should look terrific on Blu-ray. Unfortunately, it does not, although I am quite certain that the existing master that is offered for licensing was overseen and approved by director Anders Thomas Jensen because it is gorgeous. In fact, at times it produces breathtakingly beautiful visuals (see screencaptures #5 and 7). So, what is the problem? Well, a lot of the darker visuals produce old-fashioned macroblocking of the type that materializes because of subpar encoding. On my system, I was able to minimize its harmful presence quite well, but so much of the film takes place at night and in areas with restricted lighting that I felt that I lost some important nuances. You can see examples in screencaptures #13, 14, and 18. I found this very frustrating because the rest of the visuals look fantastic, as they should. Color balance is excellent as well. The entire film looks predicatively healthy, too. So, I think that Riders of Justice should have been placed on a double-layer disc and encoded with the needed optimizations to ensure that all visuals look as good as they should. My score is 3.25/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Riders of Justice Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: Danish DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. Optional English, and English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

I viewed the film with the original Danish track and was very impressed with its dynamic potency. There are a couple of sequences, such as the shootout at the end, where dynamic intensity and separation are of what I would consider to be 'reference quality'. Elsewhere there are some very fine subtle dynamic contrasts as well. The dialog is clear, sharp, stable, and very easy to follow. The English translation is excellent.

Riders of Justice Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Most unfortunately, there are no special features on this release.

Riders of Justice Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Life is one long roller-coaster ride with all kinds of unique ups and downs that we learn to anticipate as we age. While the ride lasts, some of us become pretty good at managing our emotions and public appearance the 'right way' and as a result emerge more successful in this guessing game, but some of us don't and further complicate it by making it even more unpredictable. In Riders of Justice, a terrible event brings together a few strangers with utterly incompatible personalities and tests their ability to adapt as they attempt to uncover what initiated it. It is a wonderful film whose unorthodox take on the nature of existence in our wired, devoid of privacy and violent world feels quite accurate. RECOMMENDED.