I love horror, I love fantasy I loved the show Vikings so this was straight down in my alley. Most of the first and second act felt like a theater play which is alright if you enjoy that but it's not to everyone's taste. The things that bothered me though is that several scenes just didn't logically add up. There weren't really big offsets but it happened several times and the small blemishes all started to add up for me. The scene were the father's killed for instance; Amleth, the child, escaped fairly easily yet surrounded by several of the Viking warriors who only went and searched for him afterwards, even with the order not given yet I'd assume someone would grab him. The wounds sustained throughout the movie were also quite unrealistic, that often doesn't bother me much. It did get brutal and barbaric in certain scenes but overall the action didn't deliver as well.
Also, did that slave catcher with his nose cut off take off his helmet just to sneeze/spit through his decapitated nose? That caught me off guard lol. So did the kiss scene between Nicole Kidman and Alexander Skarsgård. I know they're actors and it shouldn't be unusual to play different roles in different movies and shows, but it was a little humorous considering in "Big Little Lies" they play husband and wife, and here play mother and son in The Northman. The cast is a stellar lineup though, I think they deserved more than the story they were given to work with. The movie's not bad, it's not as amazing as the trailers and the lineup would lead you to believe. It could have been paced better and with a shorter runtime to make it a little more thrilling, the story was pretty straight forward but could have been developed better still and given us more character development or depth to atleast make us feel something for them in the end. Same with Anya Taylor Joy's character, Olger, and Amleth's relationship. The movie's a big let down in my opinion, or maybe I just hoped for a little too much. This is the most I've ever seen people walking around, in and out of the cinema for a break or drinks during the film. Not a bad one in my opinion, just pretty forgettable. But from the ratings and reviews it seems a lot people enjoyed this so it could just be me expecting too much.
It was still nice to see a Viking movie being made, and I'd read about the Viking football(soccer) like game they played but it's the first time I'd seen that put into a show or movie so that was great. Down to the smallest detail, the movie is littered with historical accuracies and I'll give it that, because it's not often you can say that about a movie. I mean they even researched the type of grass... grass people.
Also, did that slave catcher with his nose cut off take off his helmet just to sneeze/spit through his decapitated nose? That caught me off guard lol. So did the kiss scene between Nicole Kidman and Alexander Skarsgård. I know they're actors and it shouldn't be unusual to play different roles in different movies and shows, but it was a little humorous considering in "Big Little Lies" they play husband and wife, and here play mother and son in The Northman. The cast is a stellar lineup though, I think they deserved more than the story they were given to work with. The movie's not bad, it's not as amazing as the trailers and the lineup would lead you to believe. It could have been paced better and with a shorter runtime to make it a little more thrilling, the story was pretty straight forward but could have been developed better still and given us more character development or depth to atleast make us feel something for them in the end. Same with Anya Taylor Joy's character, Olger, and Amleth's relationship. The movie's a big let down in my opinion, or maybe I just hoped for a little too much. This is the most I've ever seen people walking around, in and out of the cinema for a break or drinks during the film. Not a bad one in my opinion, just pretty forgettable. But from the ratings and reviews it seems a lot people enjoyed this so it could just be me expecting too much.
It was still nice to see a Viking movie being made, and I'd read about the Viking football(soccer) like game they played but it's the first time I'd seen that put into a show or movie so that was great. Down to the smallest detail, the movie is littered with historical accuracies and I'll give it that, because it's not often you can say that about a movie. I mean they even researched the type of grass... grass people.