The Northman – Movie Review
136 Minutes, Rated R
Written by Sjon and Robert Eggers
Directed by Robert Eggers
Synopsis:
From visionary director Robert Eggers comes The Northman, an action-filled epic that follows a young Viking prince on his quest to avenge his father’s murder.
I was split on Eggers’ two previous films (The VVitch and The Lighthouse), so I went into The Northman with a bit of trepidation.
A sprawling revenge epic set in the world of Viking kings and mythology, The Northman is at once Greek, Shakespearean, and most definitively Norse.
Fate (the avoidance/inevitability of it), revenge, omens, misunderstandings, love, hate… it’s here, presented in all it’s glorious beautiful brutality.
It is brutal in its depiction of Nordic life, when a constant flux of war and death raged, and all any Norseman could aspire to was to die by iron, in battle, to be taken up by the Valkyrie to Valhalla. Hawke’s King Aurvandil War-Raven desires just that, whether it will cost him his wife, son, and kingdom along the way.
But it is a beautiful film, as well. Shot exquisitely, with a muted yet somehow definitive color palate, with some of the most attractive actors working today as the focus of the camera’s lens.
Ethan Hawke’s king, father to (eventually) Alexander Skarsgård by way of his queen, Nicole Kidman. Striking Danish actor Claes Bang plays Hawke’s brother, the eventual target of Skarsgård’s vengeance, and the always compelling Anya Taylor-Joy joining his effort as an enslaved Earth-witch.
Throw in Willem Dafoe as Hawke’s court jester-cum-shaman and Icelandic songstress Bjork as a supernatural omen who awakens Skarsgård to his fate…
Great stuff.
The performances here are all superb, even if the accents are a bit… scattered, with the harsh Norse being presented by American, Danish (I know, not really a stretch), Australian, and British voice. It’s not easy.
But it’s not all bloody violence, however; the politics of Norse life are front and center early, before ebbing through the middle of the film, to flow back somewhat into the final act. It is somewhat similar to Dune’s look at politics in a feudal society.
The score is grand and pulsing, always supporting the on-screen narrative, but never overwhelming it.
In the end, The Northman brings Eggers’ record to 2-1 for me, and I could not be happier about that.
The Northman opens in theaters on April 22 and stars Alexander Skarsgard, Nicole Kidman, Claes Bang, Ethan Hawke, Anya Taylor-Joy, Gustav Lindh, Elliot Rose, Willem Dafoe, Eldar Skar, and Bjork.
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