A heist story, a fractured family drama and a Beatles reunion all collide in The Last Viking, an offbeat Danish comedy that leans into absurdity while asking surprisingly tender questions about identity. Premiering at last year’s Venice International Film Festival, the film is now reaching international audiences via festival screenings — and it’s the kind of left-field crowd-pleaser Australian arthouse fans tend to embrace.
At its centre is a performance from Mads Mikkelsen that flips his familiar screen persona on its head, supported by a deep ensemble cast that gives the film both its humour and its emotional weight.
A brother’s plan unravels fast
The story begins with Anker (Nikolaj Lie Kaas), a small-time criminal newly released from prison after 15 years. Before his arrest, Anker hid millions of stolen cash and entrusted the job to his younger brother Manfred. Now free, Anker wants the money back — quickly.
The problem is Manfred is no longer Manfred.
Played by Mikkelsen with gentle physicality and quiet conviction, Manfred has developed severe psychological issues during the years apart. He now fully believes he is John Lennon. Long hair, round glasses, soft-spoken mannerisms — the transformation is complete, and he refuses to answer to any other name.
What might have been a throwaway gag instead becomes the emotional core of The Last Viking. Anker cannot move forward unless he acknowledges his brother’s reality, and that refusal triggers a series of disastrous events, including multiple suicide attempts when he insists on calling Manfred by his birth name.
Gangsters, doctors and a dangerous deadline
Complicating matters further is Flemming (Nicolas Bro), a volatile gangster hunting Anker for his promised cut of the stolen money. Anker needs to leave town, but he can’t even manage that while his brother spirals.
Enter Dr Lothar (Lars Brygmann), an unconventional physician who diagnoses Manfred with dissociative identity disorder. Over a long night of drinking, Lothar proposes a radical solution — one that sounds ridiculous but carries emotional logic.
If Manfred believes he is John Lennon, perhaps the answer is not to challenge the illusion, but to complete it.
The plan: reunite The Beatles
Lothar’s idea is as audacious as it is absurd: reunite The Beatles.
Nearby, Anton (Peter Düring) is institutionalised in a Danish hospital and firmly believes he is Ringo Starr. Across the border in Sweden, Hamdan (Kardo Razzazi) lives with 37 distinct personalities, two of whom are convinced they are George Harrison and Paul McCartney.
Never mind that “John” can’t play guitar. Lothar argues that allowing these men to fully inhabit their identities will help them reconnect with their true selves.
It’s a premise that could easily collapse under its own silliness. Instead, writer-director Anders Thomas Jensen commits fully, grounding the comedy in character rather than parody.
A forest home hiding more than money
The reunion unfolds at the brothers’ childhood home in the forests of Funen, now converted into an Airbnb run by Margrethe (Sofie Gråbøl) and her husband Werner (Søren Malling). While Anker desperately digs through the property searching for the buried cash, Lothar orchestrates makeshift jam sessions featuring “John”, “Ringo” and “George/Paul” — watched by an audience of exactly two.
Anker’s efforts come up empty, even as the danger escalates. Flemming closes in, brutally assaulting the brothers’ sister Freja (Bodil Jørgensen) in his hunt for Anker. Slowly, it becomes clear that Lothar’s madness may contain an unexpected kind of truth.
Identity, damage and belonging
Beneath its oddball surface, The Last Viking is a film about difference — and how society decides what is broken. That idea is reinforced through an animated Viking fable that bookends the film, telling the story of a king who orders his people to sever their own arms after his son loses one in battle.
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The message is blunt but effective: when everyone is damaged, no one is.
Jensen builds this theme into every corner of the film. Each supporting character arrives with their own eccentricities, flaws and contradictions. Gråbøl is gleefully unhinged as a self-obsessed former model grappling with fading beauty, while Malling plays her alcoholic husband, stuck trying to write a children’s book after a traumatic airbag accident.
Brygmann nearly steals the film as Dr Lothar, delivering his diagnoses via quotations from the IKEA catalogue with deadpan confidence.
Big laughs, quiet sadness
Razzazi’s Hamdan provides some of the biggest laughs. Alongside George Harrison and Paul McCartney, his personalities include Heinrich Himmler and ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus. While The Last Viking largely avoids Beatles songs — likely for rights reasons — it leans into two ABBA classics, Thank You for the Music and Chiquitita, delivered with joyful abandon.
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At times, the sheer volume of colourful side stories threatens to overwhelm the central plot. But Mikkelsen and Lie Kaas hold the film steady. Their restrained performances capture the unspoken grief and resentment that sits between the brothers, giving the comedy its emotional grounding.
Reuniting with Jensen for their sixth collaboration, both actors play against type — a reversal from Riders of Justice — yet their chemistry remains sharp and deeply felt.
A haunting look that lingers
Shot across the mossy forests of Funen, the film is visually striking without calling attention to itself. Cinematographer Sebastian Blenkov frames the isolated landscapes with quiet precision, reinforcing the story’s sense of emotional removal.
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Jeppe Kaas’ brooding score adds another layer, echoing the melancholic tones of Fargo and balancing the humour with an undercurrent of loss.
A comedy that stays with you
The Last Viking is unpredictable, strange and often very funny. More importantly, it’s compassionate. By embracing its characters’ fractures rather than mocking them, the film finds warmth in unexpected places.
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Anchored by an irresistible performance from Mikkelsen and supported by a fearless ensemble, it’s a comedy that laughs loudly while speaking softly — and one that lingers well beyond its final, haunting Viking notes.