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Follow Genre: Action
Director: Claudio Fah
Distributor: Ascot Elite Entertainment
Duration: 98 minutes

Northmen: A Viking Saga (Blu-ray) – Movie Review

Site Score
6.3
Good: Decent action, nice scenery
Bad: Bad acting, flimsy story
User Score
6.0
(2 votes)
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Rating: 6.0/10 (2 votes cast)

Vikings have been a synonym for badass since the middle ages. Big bearded men wielding axes, smashing everything in their way and bringing back all the treasure they can find back to their northern homelands. So if you have a movie where the basic premise is a bunch of Vikings being trapped against all odds, you know you’re getting into some graphic action. Now if only the story was properly worked out, we would’ve gotten an excellent movie.

northmen-a-viking-saga-bannerIn Northmen: A Viking Saga we meet a shipwrecked Viking crew. After being exiled from their home country they were caught by a surprise storm and crashed on unknown land. To make matters worse, as soon as they get their bearings, they are attacked by soldiers. The crew’s leader, Asbjörn (Tom Hopper) leads his men to victory after a brutal fight. They then find out that the soldiers were guarding Inghean (Charlie Murphy), a noble woman.

Being the smart Viking warriors they are, they assume that they can use this woman as leverage for a boat to get back to their homeland. However, the woman turns out to be the daughter of King Dunchaid (Danny Keogh), who sends the ruthless “wolf pack” to retrieve his daughter. This band of mercenaries, led by the brothers Hjorr (Ed Skrein) and Bovarr (Anatole Taubman), are well known for their ruthlessness and ability to get the job done. Thus begins a race against time, with the Vikings hurrying towards the settlement where they can exchange the woman for their freedom against the chasing band of mercenaries. However, it might turn out that getting kidnapped might’ve been a good thing for Inghean.

northmen-a-viking-saga-1Viking movies have the trouble that they always get compared to two creations. The first is the 13th Warrior and the other is the current show Vikings. Let’s get it out of way right away: Northmen – A Viking Saga doesn’t come close to either one. One of the reasons it doesn’t is the acting, Tom Hopper is not really convincing as a stoic warrior and comes off as too soft, which makes him seem too weak to be leading a pack of Vikings. The remainder of the cast doesn’t really have to act even, their job is to stand around and look cool, which only around half the cast succeeds in. Even Charlie Murphy, in the role of lady in need, doesn’t do much more as run and occasionally shoot a crossbow. Ed Skrein does look the role as slightly mental bad guy, but Anatole Taubman feels like he ran away from a sword and fantasy set. With his dashing moustache he’d be more natural swinging around a fencing sword instead of an axe. As such, the “wolf pack” lacks some threat power, which leads to the enemies having very low credibility as genuine threats, which in turns lowers the tension and diminishes any victory.

The action then, it is one of the few things that the movie does good. There are a few good set pieces in there, each with their own little Viking moment. The movie is kind enough to give each and every one from the band of heroes his time in the sun, which predictably ends with some nice last stands. Adding to the atmosphere is the location where the movie was filmed. We get a lot of beautiful and varied scenery, making it clear that this wasn’t shot inside of a studio. It also helps the movie set up its interesting battles, since both the Vikings and their chasers like to use everything that is around them to make killer traps.

northmen-a-viking-saga-2.Music wise the movie doesn’t offer a whole lot. You have your standard chase theme, battle theme and the theme that plays over the (rare) quiet moments. While it might not be the most innovating musical score, it does its job in helping to set the right mood. The costumes are also pretty stellar (but probably not very realistic), which also goes a long way.

Conclusion

Northmen: A Viking Saga checks off all the clichés a Viking movie should have, but doesn’t add anything new or interesting. The battles are pretty decent, with some original use of the scenery, but the movie is lacking good performances and an interesting story to actually be considered good.

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Northmen: A Viking Saga (Blu-ray) - Movie Review, 6.0 out of 10 based on 2 ratings

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