The Trip

Lisa (Noomi Rapace) and Lars (Aksel Hennie) head to Lars' father's cabin for the weekend. Both are dissatisfied with their marriage, and both plan to kill the other, while being unaware of the other's scheme.

The first 20 minutes is devoted to show the state their marriage is in. Lisa will say something which may or may not be meant as a dig, but Lars absolutely takes it as criticism and fires back. They're petty and ugly, there's no cooperation between the two. Of the two, I think the film lays more of the fault at Lars' feet, as he always seems to be the one spoiling for a fight and Lisa decides there's no reason to hold herself back.

This is followed by a 15-25 minute stretch where the actual murder attempts kick in. This involves a couple of reversals of fortune and a few flashbacks to show the preparations each of them made. The pettiness and sniping continues, but at least each of them lays out their grudges. It's early for Festivus, but the airing of grievances is always important.

It's about that point they find out there were three escaped convicts, Petter, Dave, and Roy, hiding in the attic. Now Lars and Lisa are hostages, and the remainder of the movie is the two of them (with one surprise assist) against the three convicts.

The violence is extreme, but in a way seemingly meant more for comedy than graphic violence. One character gets pushed chest first into lawnmower blades, while another gets shot in the ass with a load of buckshot. During the couple's fight against Roy in the kitchen, Lisa gets picked up and dropped on a Formica dining table, and when Lars tries to get involved again, Roy punches him out without even bothering to turn around.

There's also an extended sequence where it looks like one of the two is going to be raped by Dave. I think the point of that was to disabuse the audience of any idea this might be one of those movies where the crook is not really such a bad guy, and he will help the couple solve their marital problems, ala Denis Leary in The Ref. No, these are bad guys who enjoy the power they have over Lars and Lisa, and will abuse it in whatever manner they choose. Petter keeps the other two under control, but only because Lisa offers him something he wants more.

There's a point near the end that makes me wonder if there are two endings to this out there. Like in The Descent, the version the put in theaters here in the U.S. has the lady escape the cave and make it home, but I think the original ending is she remains in the cave and basically loses her mind. Because there's a moment where it looks like one of them is about to drown and you can see the other debating whether to keep struggling to pull them up. They do, and the ending progresses from there, but part of me wonders if there's a version where they let go.