Heavy Trip

I am a (Finnish) metal head so I had some expectations when I bought the ticket. At least the subject was close to my heart. Finnish comedies in general are broadly cringe-worthy and I have not paid for a movie ticket to see a Finnish flick maybe ever before.

It has many funny moments for a regular Joe, but definitely you are going to be able to pick up much more from this if you are familiar with the metal scene. Subtle references to Finnish artists here and there put constantly a smile on my face.

There are a few interesting characters, and one absolutely hilarious one.

Some scenes were completely not funny and unnecessary for the story to be interesting. Still the good scenes and lovable characters were capable of making me laugh numerous times, so the overall feeling afterwards was very good.

It's not easy for non English language films to acquire cult status, but the Finnish Hevi Reissu ("A Heavy Metal Trip") has as good a chance as any. A cross between "The Full Monty" and "This is Spinal Tap", the themes are about facing your demons, whether asking out the village's prettiest girl or daring to perform in public. Well worn clothes these, but especially the film's first half hour has a enough good gags to bring the house down with laughter.

No serious knowledge of heavy or any other kind of metal is needed to enjoy the inspired lunacy. Even if the jokes slow a bit in the second half, there's still enough wit to carry the film through its increasingly fantastical plot and logical conclusion. Criticism about the ending doesn't resound with this viewer: metal music is about fantasy and myth, well injected here.

Released initially in only a few Finnish cinemas as a late night romp, this film is a joy waiting to be discovered worldwide. Let's hope the subtitlists have talent.

This sentence perfectly summarizes the Finnish comedy "Heavy Trip". In some backwoods in Finland, four metalheads have been practicing other people's songs for twelve years, without having one of their own, nor have they ever performed before the audience. By chance, they encounter one of the organizers of the biggest Norwegian metal festival and give him their demo tape. On one occasion, it was convenient to frontman to lie that they were invited to participate in the festival, but then the lie spread and situation got completely out of control. The band decides to write an original song and appear at the festival uninvited, come what may. Of course, anything that can go wrong will go wrong and the guys will find themselves in the wildest adventure of their lives.

I can not say that the movie is objectively particularly good, but as a metalhead myself, I really enjoyed the ride. The story is original, and adventure is, although totally over-the-top, essentially very realistic and full of life. The humor is mostly mediocre, but there are some hilarious moments, and there's some touching drama too. The acting is good and dialogues I can not judge because I do not speak Finnish and I do not trust subtitles nearly enough to evaluate based solely on them. And of course, the metal sound is something I'm always happy to hear in the movie, even if it's a subgenre that I do not normally listen to. If you do not have too high expectations, you will surely have good fun.

7/10

So I watched the movie without any expectations and gotta be fair the movie was damn good and funny as well. Highly recommeneded for metalheads and people who just want to have a good laugh.

P.S. that was my 1st movie from Finland and I loved it. Keep up the good work metal bros and sisters.

Cheers

This is an absolutely hilarious dark comedy of a Finnish jerkwater heavy metal band, with all the tropes and cliches of the heavy metal culture present, both defied, averted, downplayed and absolutely played straight. A brilliant example of Finnish contemporary movie culture.

This moie is about a talented but an absolutely shy and introverted heavy metal band, who after 12 years of jamming and playing together in a basement of a reindeer slaughterhouse (where one of the members work), finally wants to make the big break and aims high. And everything goes horribly right.

If you are a metalhead, LARPer or generally interested in the geek culture, this movie is a must!