Title: Heavier Trip
MPA Rating: Not Yet Rated
Director: Juuso Laatio, Jukka Vidgren
Starring: Johannes Holopainen, Max Ovaska, Samuli Jaskio
Runtime: 1 hr 36 mins

What It Is: The heaviest symphonic, post-apocalyptic, reindeer-grinding, Christ-abusing, extreme war pagan Fennoscandian metal band in all of Finland, Impaled Rektum, are back! And this time, they’re 100% behind bars. They’ve been given the opportunity to play the gigantic Wacken festival. At first, their bassist Xytrax (Ovaska) isn’t thrilled with the idea, believing it’s selling out and bordering on treason. When their guitarist Lotvenan (Jaskio) faces a family emergency, the band must pull together to make it to the show—if they even make it to Germany. Even then, they’d still have to avoid self-destructing in the face of frontman Turo’s (Holopainen) newfound fame.

What We Think: This film is a riot. The four men at the center of the band have amazing chemistry, and the script they’re working with is hilarious, allowing them to use their brilliant comedic timing to get us to laugh. One thing I truly loved—and I mentioned this to the directors—was the accidental callout of the modern metal scene. It’s not something they set out to do, but it’s undeniably present and prevalent.

There are some really funny moments that take this film into absurd, unserious territory, and it works so well. It shouldn’t, but it does. We’re treated to a hilarious adventure through Europe as the Scandinavian band tries to get to Wacken. It’s Rat Race meets It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World with that tinge of metal—a road trip movie where nothing goes right, everything goes to hell, and we get to sit back and enjoy the chaos. There are plenty of nods to rock ‘n’ roll and metal music history that are sure to satisfy fans of metal, both new and old.

Our Grade: B, This film is bigger, better, and even more metal than the first. While the original, much like Turo in it, was about finding its footing, this sequel, like Turo, fully embraces the stage it’s been given. I truly hope for more adventures with our Finnish heroes. There’s something about this ragtag group that makes the audience have such a great time with them.