“Heavier Trip,” the follow-up to the 2018 film “Heavy Trip,” is a raucous, offbeat buddy comedy from Finland that revels in metal culture, absurd European humor, and a healthy dose of dorky slapstick. While this is technically a sequel, it works well as a standalone project (in other words, no prior experience is necessary to enjoy). Co-writers and co-directors Juuso Laatio and Jukka Vidgren have created a magnum opus for slacker metalheads who gravitate towards quirky characters, hilariously chaotic and surreal situations, and goofball sight gags. If you fit that category, this midnight madness film is going to be your jam. It’s also a wild ride for mainstream audiences, too.
The most dangerous metal band in the world, Impaled Rektum, have found themselves locked up in a Norwegian prison. When the guitarist’s father gets sick and the family home faces demolition, the guys receive an offer to play a major music festival despite being imprisoned and unprepared. The lure of concert promoter Maxwell Efraim Fisto’s (Anatole Taubman) promise to give them the opportunity to “melt faces on an epic scale” proves too much for the band to resist. Who cares that it’s a mainstream music festival for metal posers? It’ll at least give the boys a chance to get out of prison for a little while, even if the catch is that they must first hatch a jailbreak plan.
The premise is a strong foundation for this irreverent take on metal culture, and the over-the-top characters are really fun and super easy to root for as they barrel through a series of increasingly ridiculous situations (and grapple with the possibility of selling out for superstardom). Laatio and Vidgren incorporate an amusing blend of various styles of comedy, from slapstick, physical, and deadpan humor to clever wordplay, dry humor, and plenty of visual gags into their film. There’s also an unexpected amount of heart too, as the band members learn a lot about what friendship really means.
The story starts to run out of steam and lose momentum in its later half, but it holds on to enough charm to carry viewers through to the finish. “Heavier Trip” could be well on its way to becoming a minor cult classic.
By: Louisa Moore
Screen Zealots 