It Was A Dark And Stormy Night…

“The Northman” (2022) — movie review*
Today’s review is for the historical-action / revenge-drama film: “The Northman” (2022), starring Alexander Skarsgård as Amleth (a Viking prince turned berserker), Nicole Kidman as Queen Gudrún (his mother), Claes Bang as Fjölnir (his uncle), Anya Taylor-Joy as Olga (a Slavic sorceress), and Ethan Hawke as King Aurvandill (Amleth’s father).
Background:  This was my first viewing of “The Northman“.  I picked it up because I liked Skarsgård in his recent “Tarzan” role, I very much liked Taylor-Joy in her “Queen’s Gambit” role and I’ve seen Kidman in a few roles lately and I’m still examining her career.  This film adapts for movie goers the Scandinavian legend of Amleth (supposedly the same tale that inspired “Hamlet“), which I was not familiar with.
Plot:  A young Viking prince witnesses the murder of his father and abduction of his mother.  He flees his home, chanting an oath:  “I will avenge you, Father.  I will save you, Mother.  I will kill you, Fjölnir.”  Years later, he’s a raging berserker — raiding villages under trance, wearing wolf pelts, crawling into spiritual oblivion.  On learning Fjölnir lives in Iceland, Amleth disguises himself as a slave and infiltrates the farmstead.  On the way, he meets Olga and on arrival, a mystic ally, confronts family truths that shatter his childhood narrative, and he decides to face his destiny with grim resolve.  The final battle, staged near the mouth of a volcano, is less spectacle than spiritual imagery.  It’s not a fight for life — it’s a ritual sacrifice for legacy.
So, is this movie any good?  How about the acting?  Filming / effects?  Any problems?  And, did I like it?  The short answers:  so-so;  pretty good – mainly Skarsgård;  visually gray to dark , but sometimes beautifully scenic;  yes, loads;  and, no I didn’t find the film enjoyable or even likeable.
Acting:  Skarsgård has the size and physical intensity for this role.  Like “Tarzan“, he plays the “animal” well – hunched, snarling, howling, beastly.  Nicole Kidman delivers an older, thin queen, who didn’t quite fit the part for me.  Claes Bang plays Fjölnir as a wizened tribal leader rather than as a “king”.  He is brutal, but not particularly villainous.  Taylor-Joy is icy to start out, playing Olga with a calm and hidden strength.  She evolves into Amleth’s queen-lover and dedicated mother to their children.  Hawke’s appearance is mercifully brief at the start of the film in helping his son (Amleth) in his rite of passage to manhood.  (I’m not sure when, but I stopped liking Hawke quite some time ago.)
Filming / FX:  The film uses long takes, stark landscapes and generally gray / dark settings to create a dreary feel.  The “main” special effects are quick camera cuts to make “mystics” and “seers” appear and disappear.  The volcano-fight finale, is primal combat — two naked men circling death, surrounded by ash and fire.
Problems:  The film never explains itself.  It never even attempts to…  There are large, unexplained gaps in the story.  Some of the “kills” are more fantasy than real.  Most of the beatings / injuries are more fantasy than real.  I’m not a fan of mixed languages:  foreign (I assume it’s Nordic), olde English and normal English – and all of it with barely understandable accents and no sub-titles.  The only sub-titles were under “runes” used as scene / location changes.
Final Recommendation:  Poor to Low Moderate recommendation.  If you are a fan of mythic storytelling, historical fantasy, and fatalist philosophy MAYBE this film will work for you.  I usually am;  it didn’t.  If you like revenge films where a lot of people get hacked to pieces, this film is right in your wheelhouse.  I sometimes am;  this missed.  If you like dramatic films (a la Shakespeare) where most of the main characters die, this is it.  I’ve never cared for Beowulf and I don’t think much of the “everyone dies in the end” drama.  I didn’t like / care for my viewing of “Hamlet” (“moderate recommendation – at best”) and this legend didn’t move me either.  Skarsgård and Taylor-Joy give very good performances, but it wasn’t enough to save this film for me.  I “own” streaming rights to view this film again.  I doubt I ever will…
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Click here (16 July) to see the posts of prior years.  I started this blog in late 2009.  Daily posting began in late January 2011.  Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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