Director: Robert Eggers
Distributor: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
Duration: 137 minutes
The Northman (Blu-ray) – Movie Review
It’s been a while since we last saw impressive Viking battles as Vikings ended with its sixth season. We loved the show for its characters and its great story, but we are also happy that the creators decided to give the show a fitting end rather than drag it out. Now, however, we get another interesting Viking tale, albeit one that revolves solely around revenge. We were intrigued by The Northman’s trailer and we were not disappointed by the film itself. The movie proved to be entertaining, even though there were a few items dragging down the overall quality of the film.
The Northman revolves around Amleth’s (Alexander Skarsgård) quest for revenge. When he was a boy, he saw his father King Aurvandil War-Raven (Ethan Hawke) getting brutally murdered by Fjölnir (Claes Bang), Aurvandil’s very own brother. Fjölnir, however, clearly wasn’t finished, and also decided to try and kill Amleth. Luckily, Amleth managed to escape and was presumed dead. Fast forward several years into the future, and we see an adult Amleth who has honed his skills. Amleth has become a potent warrior (and mass murderer) and when he learns that Fjölnir is now only the ruler of a remote little hamlet, Amleth decides to pose as a slave in order to get close to his murderous uncle. Upon plotting his revenge, he also meets a fellow slave, Olga (Anna Taylor-Joy), who manages to keep Amleth focused.
The flow and pacing of The Northman are fairly good. You’ll get enough information sprinkled in between the action scenes. Sadly, we were often under the impression that the movie was struggling to find its own identity. We felt that at times the film wanted to be realistic, to then turn into a mythologically-driven piece, to once again try and create a sense of realism. This, in combination with the predictable ending and the cliché plot, bogged down the overall experience. We found it very hard to sympathize with Amleth because his father was murdered, especially when you see him kill countless innocent people and basically contribute to children and women being slaughtered.
Even though the cast of The Northman puts down great performances, we can’t help but feel that random people were thrown together, while lacking a certain chemistry. Each actor still does a formidable job bringing their character to life, but it sometimes feels like they’re acting for themselves and not for the bigger picture. That being said, the lack of chemistry is only a minor bump in the road and will probably not stand out too much.
When buying the Blu-ray version of The Northman, you’ll get a lot of bang for your buck. Outside of several very interesting deleted scenes, you’ll find many making-of features that talk about how certain scenes were created, as well as provide some more general information. We were able to extend our viewing pleasure by quite a bit, and we can easily say in this case it’s very interesting getting a physical copy and not just buying a digital version or even renting it online.
Conclusion
The Northman was a fairly interesting experience for a slow evening. If you love shows like Vikings and do not shy away from a few pints of blood being plastered on the screen, then you’re probably in for a treat. The only things bogging the movie down are its predictable ending and the fact that it’s hard to sympathize with the protagonist as he’s probably even worse than the antagonist.
The Northman (Blu-ray) - Movie Review,
No Comments