The Northman is written and directed by Robert Eggers who previously made The Witch and The Lighthouse. This is easily his most accessible movie to a wider audience and yet it still evinces some of his weirder, more artsy vibes. You won’t mistake it for, say, The Green Knight… it isn’t always the fastest paced movie, but it’s certainly less artsy fartsy than that (very good if divisive) earlier movie. And while it has the same basic plot as Conan the Barbarian, its more meat, less meat-head than that earlier (also very good) film. It’s like someone grew up watching Ator the Fighting Eagle or Sword and the Sorcerer and said, “Yeah, that… but good.”
The Northman is about a king who is betrayed by his brother and slain… the young prince escapes, vowing revenge. And then he grows up to be Alexander Skarsgård who is out for that vengeance. In Iceland, mainly.
Iceland… land of the ice and snow, etc. The movie sure looks brutally gorgeous with its location shooting that makes you respect the harsh yet beautiful landscape but maybe not want to live there so much. The production value is excellent as it creates a human world etched onto this frozen hellscape that’s no less brutal and dehumanizing.
Indeed, life is cheap in this world of Vikings and their captured slaves. The violence is visceral and believable as warriors rile themselves into berserker rages, howling at their enemies and slaughters with abandon. This is not a fairy tale version of history but something down in the blood and mud and grit.
Its hero – if you want to call him that – is not a good person… we’re on his side because he was wronged and this is a movie… but he’s not that much better than his enemies. Which I enjoyed. This isn’t a sanitized version of history or one that is suspiciously modern in its sensibilities. Braveheart and The 300 don’t shout about freedom, Perseus doesn’t “damn the Gods”, and a gladiator doesn’t ask the crowd if they are entertained.
When I say this film is more accessible, I largely mean that its got a basic plot and plenty of action without too much “WTF?” moments that drag the film’s pacing down. As much as I dig The Lighthouse, I wouldn’t suggest my parents watch it. Also, this movie is mostly in plain-spoken English and not, say, the olde timey talk of The Witch (for sooth) or The Lighthouse (yar-be-dar!). You won’t get lost in what they are saying.
I should have loved every second of this film… but I didn’t. It two and a quarter hours long and with so little actual plot, I got a little antsy in the mid portion. Nothing that that hurt the movie too much, but I wished I loved it more. That said, it was fun seeing The Witch from the point of view of the persecutor and the end showdown with the big boss is suitably epic and badass.
There are fantastical scenes of Norse mythology intermixed with the rough-hewn reality but its almost as though Eggers didn’t want to commit. We see sequences like the hero vs. an undead draugr… but then we see the same scene without it. Or we see a Valkyrie ride towards Valhalla… or maybe that’s just a fever dream. And… oh hi Odin, is that you? I really wish they had committed to reality or mythology. But that’s also just me wishing we’d get a modern (non Marvel) film that presents the Norse myths and Ragnarok with today’s budgets and FX.
Anyhow, this is a good film that should satisfy both film nerds and the masses. It’s art house freakout maestro Robert Eggers working his usual magic but with an eye for a larger audience that doesn’t betray his indie sensibilities. Good flick… I had some issues with pacing and themes but overall I dig this flick.
Score: 86