Mikael Håfström’s Stockholm Bloodbath is a black comedy infused historical epic that sadly struggles to reach the potential of either aspect of its hybrid premise.
Director: Mikael Håfström
Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy
Run Time: 118′
Rating: R for strong violence, grisly images, and language
U.S. Release: November 8, 2024
U.K. Release: TBA
Where to Watch: in theaters and on digital & VOD
Stockholm Bloodbath proudly proclaims that “a great deal of this actually happened”, as though its intention right from the off is to skew away from a more traditional historical epic. Indeed, Mikael Håfström’s film relies quite heavily on the stylings of a quirky black comedy, with modern stylistic choices and a fast-and-loose approach to facts, only to then cast everything aside as its narrative reaches the titular ‘bloodbath’, a series of executions that took place in Sweden’s capital in 1520.
It’s a somewhat odd choice, especially since it feels like the film is simultaneously trying to do something quirky, in encouraging its audience not to take things too seriously, and trying to convey emotional heft, much more in keeping with a movie of more serious ilk. But, perhaps more importantly, it’s also an unfortunate choice, because it means that Stockholm Bloodbath never quite reaches the potential of either side of its hybrid premise.
After her wedding ends in tragedy, Anna (Sophie Cookson, Kingsman: The Secret Service) and her sister Freya (Alba August, of Netflix’s The Rain) travel to Stockholm with the promise of avenging their murdered family. But as the conflict between Denmark and Sweden grows more fraught, their plan for revenge means killing off the ruthless and bloodthirsty advisors of tyrannical Danish monarch Christian II (Claes Bang, The Northman) one by one.
Stockholm Bloodbath starts off quite quirky and intriguing, with snappy graphics like those lifted straight from the pages of a comic book, irreverent nicknames – Evil Guy, Guy with Scar, etc. – and a disregard for any real modicum of historical accuracy. The accents are a varied bunch, the language disarmingly modern, and there’s a sense of revelry in the gore that feels at little at odds with the nature of a lot of the violence happening on screen. But as the film builds to its climax and covers some pretty serious stuff thematically and narratively – if not necessarily always tonally –, it seems to forget to keep up any of that schtick entirely.
Håfström dispenses with the gimmicks and plays things almost straight as the movie heads into its third act, which makes the occasional dip back into that lighter style a little jarring as a result. The comedy produces huffed breaths of surprised amusement rather than full on laughs, and the moments of high-stakes tension or emotional poignancy don’t get the build-up they deserve because they’re so often undercut with silliness. As such, it feels a little superfluous to have those elements there in the first place, especially if it’s all to be dropped like a hot potato when the film gets to the really meaty stuff.
The performances are decent, the action is entertaining, and the hissable villains are despicably villainous, but unfortunately the movie never really finds its stride. Stockholm Bloodbath is never as funny or tongue-in-cheek as it could be, never as intricately plotted as it maybe should be, nor as poignant as it wants to be. It tries, certainly, but things just feel a little bit too mish-mashed to feel like a cohesive whole. It seems as though Håfström’s film, with a script by Erlend Loe and Nora Landsrød, flirts with being both a black comedy and a historical epic, but doesn’t succeed as either.
Stockholm Bloodbath will be released in US theaters and on demand on November 8, 2024.
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