Stellan Skarsgård is the familiar face for most movie-goers in this Norwegian-Scandinavian crime-thriller-comedy. He is an angel of death for the mobsters in the chilly North much like Liam Neeson was in the virtual shot-for-shot remake Cold Pursuit. Skarsgård fills the role as the unlikely action hero better, more realistically or comically even in this film due the fact that whatever you think of his fine acting skills he really does not look like a man who would shout at you let alone bring ‘righteous justice’ upon your head.

Billed as a comedy it must be said there are few if any belly laughs in the runtime but more than a couple of ‘snorts’ or giggles. Perhaps the dark humour flew over my head, or it is a cultural thing, but I just failed to see the laughs. The absurdity of the set-up was there, and I suppose some deaths were predictable silly but people being killed one after the other is not that funny. I must disclose that while I like parts of Tarantino’s output I do not particularly find the constant ‘amusing’ deaths and murders particularly funny in his stories. The Coens are better at this type of humour, you could say they have that elusive twinkle in the eye.

In Order of Disappearance tries hard to be in the same universe as Tarantino or the Coens but it gets an honourable mention only.

The English name for the film comes from each chapter wherein a black name card appears on the screen naming the victim, their full name and dates of birth and death, which was a detail that I thought was amusing and well done.

Playing off against the talented Skarsgård in what is basically a three-hander is the late Bruno Ganz, immortalised in meme forever as the ranting Adolf Hitler, and Pål Sverre Hagen in some way a tall, lean, serious Norwegian version of Nicolas Lyndhurst, both actors highly successful in their own markets but perhaps not so well-known in the English language film market like Skarsgård. Ganz is impressive as the old patriarch that rules absolute, and Hagen must be a first as a vegan, divorced psychopathic drug baron. For my sensibilities he was too over-the-top as he tried to show how unbalanced he was whilst trying to stay ‘controlled’ but having said this it may have been tailored to the style and feel of the story. He was certainly memorable.

The crisp snowy backdrop is very Fargo and a beautiful stylish setting. The set piece murders and disposals whilst gory are also stylised and dare I say a bit silly at times, and this is where the film caused me the most consternation. I liked the setting, the acting seems suited to the story, but the mood or feeling is somehow off.

Initially the gangsters, the murders, are played straight and unpleasant but as we move along it is as if two different versions of the scripts got muddled up. Suddenly a cold calculated gangster does the most stupid thing anyone would do in a situation. Impossible set-pieces pop up with unlikely outcomes and finally the last five or ten minutes appear to be an alternate ending accidentally left in the final cut.

In Order of Disappearance or Kraftidioten which does not translate to English satisfactorily, is well-made, acted and beautifully shot but the writing by Kim Fupz Aakeson cannot seem to settle for what the tale is. This is disappointing because a very impressive film is just below the snowy surface of this movie.

It might pay to watch this film alongside Cold Pursuit, which I have not seen, to find out which one bears up the best. Oddly enough, throughout the runtime I had a peculiar feeling of déjà vu although I know I have seen neither film, I could not shake it. Not sure if that says something about In Order of Disappearance or me.