Movie Review: Metal Rules in the Hilarious ‘Heavier Trip’
Heavier Trip, the welcome follow-up to 2018’s cult hit Heavy Trip, is easily as much fun as the original, with its offbeat humor and hilarious metal clichés. Viewing the original Trip is not necessary to get into this one — the sequel stands on its own. Nevertheless, a double feature party definitely wouldn’t be out of the question. In fact, some theaters are doing just that.
As the film opens, we find the members of Impaled Rektum, “the most dangerous metal band in the world,” cooling their heels in a rather cushy Norwegian prison for their previous misdeeds.
When the guitarist, Lotvonen (Samuli Jaskio), receives word that his father is gravely ill and the family’s home/slaughterhouse business is in danger of facing the wrecking ball, his bandmates, Turo (Johannes Holopainenen), Xytrax (Max Ovaska) and Oula (Chike Ohanwi) volunteer to pitch in and help him raise the necessary funds. But where will they come from?
The answer arrives in the form of shady record label executive Fisto (Anatole Taubman), who offers to get them a slot at Germany’s legendary Wacken Music Festival along with a nice paycheck. The exposure will be tremendous, he promises, and they’ll be able to “melt faces on an epic scale.”
All they need to do is figure out how to break out of the prison, which surprisingly proves to be much easier than expected. But they also incur the wrath of overzealous guard Doken (Helén Vikstvedt), who hates their music and is determined to lock them up again, come hell or high water.
The chase commences, with Impaled Rektum managing to barely stay two steps ahead of Doken. When they make it to the festival and hunt down Fisto, he tells them his vision of how the band should be reinvented. He wants to soften their appearance, make their edgy metal more danceable and put Turo front and center as the band’s sexy main focus. Naturally, they are appalled, but how can they preserve their death metal ideals and still land the gig?
Co-writers and directors Juuso Laatio and Jukka Vidgren populate the film with oddball characters and amusingly strange situations. Of course, there’s the expected loud metal music and good-natured jabs at the culture. There’s even a cameo appearance by Japanese girl group Babymetal.
The actors reprising their roles as the band deliver fine, familiar performances all around. Even when the story momentarily slips into sentimentality, their convincing relationships put it across.
Heavier Trip opens Friday, Nov. 29, at selected theaters, including the Park North Drafthouse. It will also be available on VOD the same day.
Feature photo (l-r): Samuli Jaskio, Johannes Holopainenen, Chike Ohanwi and Max Ovaska (courtesy of Doppelgänger Releasing).
