indeed. I think telling a viking story but stepping away from the viking angle to do a slow burn revenge story, when the lead is a friggen berzerker makes no sense
Yea but it felt more inspired by Hamlet/Macbeth than staying true to the Amleth saga. I loved it on first watch but was not as impressed upon subsequent views
Edit to add would have loved a more faithful adaptation of the Amleth saga than what we got tbh. That’s a movie I would watch over and over if done right
Gonna go against the grain here, but I appreciated this movie much, much more during rewatches.
It’s worth noting the strangeness and messiness of the pacing. Especially the beginning with young Amleth is not exactly linear. Tension doesn’t build in the normal way it would for a revenge story. One might interpret this as “clunky,” but I eventually settled into it resembling the clunky pacing of mythological storytelling. Like reading an epic off of a tapestry. There are plenty of odd fits and starts, but if you consider the movie to be more a slow burn mytho-historical drama, rather than an action movie, the pacing seems more successful. The intention was to create a sweeping epic that covers cultures, religions, and landscapes— and the psychological journey that Amleth undertakes which blends the lines between fact and fiction, man and beast, triumph and enslavement and truth and untruth.
It was only on a rewatch that I realized the tone the creators were going for. It wasn’t the righteous revenge story marred by tragedy that I’d hoped for. It was an utterly ambivalent tale of human freedom and the freedom to be as zealous as one wants; as destructive, tragic, and insane as one wants, as well as as valorous and heroic, dependent on one’s culture. The ambivalence and shadowy even-handedness in the story’s tone highlights the frightening uncertainty of human existence. This is the central tension of the story. It’s an ambient, bone-chilling tension that bleeds into the plot and it’s imperfect pacing. It also enhances the characterization: Amleth’s uncle and mother are ambiguous. Ambiguously ambiguous. Not even truly ambiguous. There’s profound intelligence and nuance in how characters are developed that rewards a closer look.
Relevant quote from your article:
> Nicole Kidman was seriously miscast as Amleth’s mother, especially since she’s only nine years older than Skarsgård and has played his wife before on HBO’s excellent Big Little Lies.
You’ve missed a set of layers to her character. She’s meant to resemble a temptress to Amleth— the horror of her marrying his uncle shortly after his father’s death creates this ambiguity around her intentions that Amleth doesn’t confront except in a very stark, black-and-white way.
Obviously the movie is very technically proficient in terms of most areas of cinematography. It’s really just pacing and characterization that some people take an issue with, and when I realized the things I’ve mentioned above, I found the movie to be a very enjoyable slow-burn and full of interesting scenes. **4.5/5**
hey all power that you liked it so much!
I found Kidman's preformance more of an issue than the age gap, I see what they were trying to do but I still found the relationship to be clunky and I would've just put a different actress in the role.
His uncle and mother being relegated to peasants is a good angle and in my original review, I mention that we're left wondering if we're supposed to be rooting for Amleth, but since everyone is morally bankrupt here apart from probably Olga, it's really hard to care for Amleth, his quest or his family. I was left feeling "okay, so what" when we learned that his mother orchestrated the assassination of his father the second time around.
Pacing in the middle is a critical issue for sure, but it's a visually stunning movie with a killer score, thanks for reading!
I had a similar opinion coming out of the green knight and I'll definitely be rewatching that soon to give that movie a similar treatment to this article.
well, stay tuned to the sub, I'll drop the review for that here and this article is getting some good comments, I hope to replicate that conversation for TGK.
It struck me about halfway in what was missing, at least for me. I know there's a lot of discourse about The Northman being an adaptation of Hamlet, but it's also basically Conan the Barbarian (The Viking). The thing that makes CtB work as an action movie, which is the same thing that makes most good action movies work: the main character is funny sometimes.
It's hard to make an unstoppable killing machine hellbent on revenge into a relatable character. Having them crack a joke (or fall down some stairs or punch out a camel while drunk) is an effective shortcut to humanizing them to the audience. Even when it's corny and hammy, it still works. Try to think of a good or great action movie where the main character is never funny.
Interesting point. I don’t necessarily disagree but does Crowe crack a joke in Gladiator? Or Mel Gibson in Patriot?
Perhaps a couple. I do agree Northman is exceptionally dry.
Crowe doesn't drop any "zingers" in Gladiator, but he's got some understated jokes sprinkled in. He jokes with his troops a bit, for example. But the movie as a whole showed Maximus having a pretty full range of emotions, so it didn't rely on humor alone to humanize the character. Plus, there were scenes that made Maximus's lethality a bit more believable by showing him use his battlefield experience to give himself the advantage, so the character still seemed mortal.
I don't know if The Patriot counts as a cornerstone of the genre, but honestly I haven't seen it since I rented it from Hollywood Video, so I can't really comment. But I can say that Gibson had jokes in Braveheart.
I included the phrase "most good action movies" instead of "all..." because I know there are exceptions out there. But it's easier and more efficient to throw in a few jokes than it is to write a deep and believable character, and not all action movies need to have something to say about the human condition to be a "good action movie".
The humorlessness of The Northman reminded me a bit of when my uncle showed me the movie Hitman, based on the videogame. He was super into it and I just wasn't, but I couldn't figure out why until I realized that I just didn't care about the main character. If the guy had a zinger or two, I think it would've been a lot better.
I was conflicted at first but because I was thinking on it so much, I gave it points because most movies don't leave me pondering the movie so long after the fact (green knight is another example). But yeah, feeling pretty letdown the second time around.
Yes and to tack on I have issues with the main character, personally didn’t find him a compellingly written protagonist. The setting of the ending fight scene felt kind of forced and made me feel like I was watching prequel Star Wars.
I love some beats (when he obtains the blade from its owner and the trippy night forest scene) in this movie and his attention to historical and cultural detail. I think Kidman and Joy bolster it with strong supporting performances but all in all it felt like a bit of a missed opportunity.
I thought Kidman was miscast actually.
But yeah the overall direction of the movie was an odd one. As mentioned in the article, I found it weird that a respected berzerker would abandon his crew to do a solo revenge run when they could've just rallied together and attacked his uncle's lands. I think the uniqueness of the berzerker to cinema made the abandonment of that plot line criminal for a safe and familiar revenge plot. Amleth was much more interesting as a berzerker with a code.
Didn't care for it, personally. It didn't get me emotionally involved in the characters at all and the story just seemed . . . I dunno, kinda not that interesting. I felt like it was trying to be Braveheart but not succeeding in the slightest. Too much focus on the visuals and not enough on the story/character/dialogue.
in the end similiar to my own thoughts, although I'd say a closer film it's emulating is the green knight (they came out within a year of each other so not sure if one had any bearing on the other but the two are so similiar in many respects)
All style no substance. Loved the first watch. Felt duped on the second where when you think about how it steals elements from Hamlet and Macbeth and frames them in a Viking narrative. I felt like films like Valhalla Rising were much more original and better rewatches. It’s actually sad bc they have so much talent in the cast but it just doesn’t do it like Eggers other films.
more how Hamlet (Shakespeare) stole from the icelandic sagas.
I think the bigger dupe is how it ditches the viking narrative altogether at the end of the first act.
I would have rather of had him stick closer to the Amleth saga than what we got which felt like a hybrid of the Viking saga with elements of Shakespeare’s adaptation. The film would have been much more enjoyable if Eggers stayed faithful to the original saga vs what we got. Which is weird bc he’s is usually very on point with his research/history. A more faithful adaptation of the saga with this cast would have been very enjoyable IMO.
yeah that was a weird scene, i get it must be some sort of ceremony rooted in tradition (assuming), but it's one of those things that could've been reworked somehow.
It's a critique of the revenge trope. Amleth destroys every shred of happiness in the lives of those around him out of his belief in honor. He murders his mother, children, countless bystanders and dedicates years of his life in slavery to honor his father and in the end he is rewarded with death. It was not a simple plot.
oh 100%. It just didn't land for me in the end. I totally recognized that I wasn't supposed to root for Amleth but that made the experience feel hollow for me.
I agree. The first half is great with the Viking berserker setting, culminating in that village raid. Then we get a second half that just drags on and is nowhere near as entertaining or interesting.
I didn’t really like it much when I saw it in theaters. It had a lot of things I love about Eggers as a film maker, but I couldn’t stay invested in the story. I might revisit it to see if I missed something
Man I love period pieces but fuxk this one was a major let down, and I think Ethan hawk had a lack luster performance especially the wolf howling part….i reckon that might be a tough scene for anyone I especially feel he was ill suited for the task
I thought Ethan was one of the better aspects, his accent didn't seem too cringe and he seemed to be invested, Kidman seemed to be sleepwalking a bit through the role.
yeah it should've been "i can't wait to watch this again" but now that I have, I'm like eh I don't feel the need to ever watch this again and that's a shame.
plus the weirdness didn't offer anything. Like the draugr scene, where he gets the sword, did it or did it not happen. If it did, why show it as a vision first? If it didn't, why bother showing the fight at all? Felt weird for the sake of it being weird/trippy.
Yes 💯. I felt like it could of had so much more action. I had to watch it twice because everyone said how great it was. Second time I did like it more. Then they could of showed him taking people out instead of just showing the aftermath.
The movie itself is ok but I expected a masterpiece after so much positive critics, therefore I was quite disappointed by The Northman and was pretty much annoyed by the fake Nordic accent too. This is an English movie so please let them speak English or use the original Nordic Language.
There were just bits everywhere that could have lost a second or two, and some really bad transitions that one would think should have a lot more takes to use being that they're crucial scenes. The first battle stuck out as having a combo of bad action plus bad shot choice.
And then there's the magic, dick-hiding smoke scene.
the magic smoke is also in the final battle so there's the one two combo in that department.
Final battle was weird, it was weirdly restrained but there was no reactions to the heat on their feet.
this movie seems to encourage magik mushrooms and yes, I put the k there intentionally because you need next level witchcraft mushrooms apparently for this one lol
it’s kind of a really shitty movie with really shitty people doing really shitty things to everyone in every direction.
Movies fall apart with no sympathetic characters
My least favorite Eggers film. I don’t dislike it but the story arch was quite frankly boring, which is weird given the subject matter of his other films, youd think one of those would manage to be more boring than the Viking film
I think the studio wanted an action adventure film, Eggers wanted a trippy withcraft film set in viking times, studio got final cut but could only do so much with Eggers' material so we got a weirdly presented movie.
I know it’s beloved by a lot, but It just did not keep me engaged. Granted I’ve only seen it once maybe I should give it another watch . To really form an opinion
I dont know why you liked it in the first place. Its not a good film. It feels like it was a film student who got a grant to make a research documentary on ancient Viking Rituals and then tried to add in a story element to try and make movie.
More to the point, I was left pondering whether I liked it or not and most movies these days don't have me thinking about whether I liked a movie or not, so at the time, I at least had to give it some recognition for that but upon second viewing, my opinion is much clearer.
I remember expecting a world building epic (Gladiator esque) tale and it felt like the World of the Northman got smaller and smaller and then ended in a cool but letdown of a final battle.
Yeah it was weird to have the viking angle be marketed so heavily only for the movie to abandon it so early on in the movie. a viking epic is what a lot of people were expecting I'd wager.
I was left with a feeling of "I'm not sure if I hate this movie or love it" and I'm still undecided, so props to the movie for at least making me think about it for so long
Whenever you go way back....like operas for instance, the stories are a little simpler. Don't expect Inception type of twists. It is a simple story of revenge. It is well made and brilliantly acted.
wasn't expecting inception, but even something like braveheart or gladiator have the revenge angle and aren't super complex, they're fairly simple. only difference is we like the leads and amleth, by design, isn't a likeable lead. I just didn't sympathize with anyone in the movie and I know the movie is about the cycle of revenge and how it takes a certain type of individual to undertake that mission, but it still felt hollow to me in the end.
Unfortunately for The Northman there’s been really fantastic Viking tv shows like The Last Kingdom and two different Vikings shows on the history channel and Netflix
It is using an extremelyyyy generic historical trope (Last Kingdom, Vikings, many shows and films have done this Scandinavian revenge / take back homeland thing in recent years). Considering the director did creatively oober ambitious titles like The Witch and The Lighthouse, it's hard to believe he would choose this as his follow up project. The prior films were thought provoking and intriguing, while The Northman not so much...
This film was an adaptation of the old Viking story that Shakespeare had adapted into the story of Hamlet. Those stories propped up violence, revenge, and other ideas which would fall into the scope of “toxic masculinity.” While the older stories tried to portray those ideas in a positive light, this version of the story pretty much tried to portray it negatively. The raping and village/child-burning Vikings were not shown as “heroes” or righteous in any way. (Though they were shown to believe they were) The film basically tries to point out how wrong and/or foolish the toxic masculinity, that’s often been portrayed positivity in so many stories, really is.
I believe many people just wanted to see “a cool Viking movie” and were disappointed, because the movie basically tries to tell you that Vikings aren’t really that cool, they’re bloodthirsty, murdering, raping, scumbags. The idea/theme of revenge and the cycle of viscous violence is shown to be terrible, not cool or exciting.
It’s a film that makes points about the way we’ve viewed these types of stories and characters and tries to portray them in a more realistically negative light, by re-telling a classic tale which many others have drawn inspiration from, and making it feel ridiculous, wrong, and/or negative. Many people wanted and/or expected it to be more in line with the types of stories that the film actually mocks and/or criticizes, so a large mix of viewers either didn’t quite get it and just thought it was weird, didn’t like it because it was weird, or did understand it and didn’t like that it wasn’t what they thought it would be. It probably isn’t for everyone, but if you don’t mind films/stories which are meant to criticize and/or comment on trends and themes of other stories, The Northman does a pretty solid job of that.
I think the marketing played a big part in that misconception for what this movie was going to be versus what it actually was.
But that's why I think Eggers should've stuck with the berzerker angle, having them be truely animalistic terrible beings while Amleth refuses to cut down women and children during the raid could've created some tension between them and questioned the fabric of humanity in a time when pilaging was seen as okay by that society.
This movie was just incredible visual and audio entertainment. Original and electric. So much fun. No it’s not an epic linear story driven revenge drama like braveheart or last of the Mohicans, but it was still fun as hell.
Loved this movie. Sad it wasn’t more popular, I think this is the perfect mix of the stuff Eggers does and a mainstream movie.
Cant wait to watch it again .
The description was way more entertaining for sure.
indeed. I think telling a viking story but stepping away from the viking angle to do a slow burn revenge story, when the lead is a friggen berzerker makes no sense
It's an adaptation of Hamlet in a Viking setting. It's not a "Viking" story.
The Saga of Amlath was a viking saga written in the Middle Ages. It is what Shakespeare adapted the idea from when writing Hamlet.
Yea but it felt more inspired by Hamlet/Macbeth than staying true to the Amleth saga. I loved it on first watch but was not as impressed upon subsequent views Edit to add would have loved a more faithful adaptation of the Amleth saga than what we got tbh. That’s a movie I would watch over and over if done right
Quick read of the saga and it does seem quite different
Gonna go against the grain here, but I appreciated this movie much, much more during rewatches. It’s worth noting the strangeness and messiness of the pacing. Especially the beginning with young Amleth is not exactly linear. Tension doesn’t build in the normal way it would for a revenge story. One might interpret this as “clunky,” but I eventually settled into it resembling the clunky pacing of mythological storytelling. Like reading an epic off of a tapestry. There are plenty of odd fits and starts, but if you consider the movie to be more a slow burn mytho-historical drama, rather than an action movie, the pacing seems more successful. The intention was to create a sweeping epic that covers cultures, religions, and landscapes— and the psychological journey that Amleth undertakes which blends the lines between fact and fiction, man and beast, triumph and enslavement and truth and untruth. It was only on a rewatch that I realized the tone the creators were going for. It wasn’t the righteous revenge story marred by tragedy that I’d hoped for. It was an utterly ambivalent tale of human freedom and the freedom to be as zealous as one wants; as destructive, tragic, and insane as one wants, as well as as valorous and heroic, dependent on one’s culture. The ambivalence and shadowy even-handedness in the story’s tone highlights the frightening uncertainty of human existence. This is the central tension of the story. It’s an ambient, bone-chilling tension that bleeds into the plot and it’s imperfect pacing. It also enhances the characterization: Amleth’s uncle and mother are ambiguous. Ambiguously ambiguous. Not even truly ambiguous. There’s profound intelligence and nuance in how characters are developed that rewards a closer look. Relevant quote from your article: > Nicole Kidman was seriously miscast as Amleth’s mother, especially since she’s only nine years older than Skarsgård and has played his wife before on HBO’s excellent Big Little Lies. You’ve missed a set of layers to her character. She’s meant to resemble a temptress to Amleth— the horror of her marrying his uncle shortly after his father’s death creates this ambiguity around her intentions that Amleth doesn’t confront except in a very stark, black-and-white way. Obviously the movie is very technically proficient in terms of most areas of cinematography. It’s really just pacing and characterization that some people take an issue with, and when I realized the things I’ve mentioned above, I found the movie to be a very enjoyable slow-burn and full of interesting scenes. **4.5/5**
I second this comment, I loved this movie.
hey all power that you liked it so much! I found Kidman's preformance more of an issue than the age gap, I see what they were trying to do but I still found the relationship to be clunky and I would've just put a different actress in the role. His uncle and mother being relegated to peasants is a good angle and in my original review, I mention that we're left wondering if we're supposed to be rooting for Amleth, but since everyone is morally bankrupt here apart from probably Olga, it's really hard to care for Amleth, his quest or his family. I was left feeling "okay, so what" when we learned that his mother orchestrated the assassination of his father the second time around. Pacing in the middle is a critical issue for sure, but it's a visually stunning movie with a killer score, thanks for reading!
just sayin' well said! I fuckin' love this movie & you nailed many of the reasons I love it.
I agree.
I was very excited going in and pretty disappointed coming out. Feels like it had a ton of potential and just wasn't the homerun I was hoping for.
I had a similar opinion coming out of the green knight and I'll definitely be rewatching that soon to give that movie a similar treatment to this article.
Green knight didn’t land quite as well as I was hoping for but I still really dug the visuals and vibe
well, stay tuned to the sub, I'll drop the review for that here and this article is getting some good comments, I hope to replicate that conversation for TGK.
It struck me about halfway in what was missing, at least for me. I know there's a lot of discourse about The Northman being an adaptation of Hamlet, but it's also basically Conan the Barbarian (The Viking). The thing that makes CtB work as an action movie, which is the same thing that makes most good action movies work: the main character is funny sometimes. It's hard to make an unstoppable killing machine hellbent on revenge into a relatable character. Having them crack a joke (or fall down some stairs or punch out a camel while drunk) is an effective shortcut to humanizing them to the audience. Even when it's corny and hammy, it still works. Try to think of a good or great action movie where the main character is never funny.
Interesting point. I don’t necessarily disagree but does Crowe crack a joke in Gladiator? Or Mel Gibson in Patriot? Perhaps a couple. I do agree Northman is exceptionally dry.
Crowe doesn't drop any "zingers" in Gladiator, but he's got some understated jokes sprinkled in. He jokes with his troops a bit, for example. But the movie as a whole showed Maximus having a pretty full range of emotions, so it didn't rely on humor alone to humanize the character. Plus, there were scenes that made Maximus's lethality a bit more believable by showing him use his battlefield experience to give himself the advantage, so the character still seemed mortal. I don't know if The Patriot counts as a cornerstone of the genre, but honestly I haven't seen it since I rented it from Hollywood Video, so I can't really comment. But I can say that Gibson had jokes in Braveheart. I included the phrase "most good action movies" instead of "all..." because I know there are exceptions out there. But it's easier and more efficient to throw in a few jokes than it is to write a deep and believable character, and not all action movies need to have something to say about the human condition to be a "good action movie". The humorlessness of The Northman reminded me a bit of when my uncle showed me the movie Hitman, based on the videogame. He was super into it and I just wasn't, but I couldn't figure out why until I realized that I just didn't care about the main character. If the guy had a zinger or two, I think it would've been a lot better.
It was mediocre the first time, thus not qualifying for a second viewing. I was let down by this one.
I shut it off about 25 min in. It insists upon itself
Mmm, shallow and pedantic
I agree as well, shallow and pedantic
derivative
It's from Family Guy
Hahaha
I sat through the entirety of the king of films that insist upon themselves: Battlefield Earth. If I never see that movie again, it'll be too soon.
I love "The Money Pit".
I really didn't enjoy it the first time. 100% not revisiting it anytime soon
I was conflicted at first but because I was thinking on it so much, I gave it points because most movies don't leave me pondering the movie so long after the fact (green knight is another example). But yeah, feeling pretty letdown the second time around.
I fucken loved this movie. It has a primal calling to it that brings forth that Nordic blood in me
I quite enjoyed act 1, that was the strongest part, act 2 was prettyyyy meh for me, act 3 was good but I was left wanting overall.
Y’a the stuff that mainly interested me were the chants and anything involving the Fool (Joker) and the ritual stuff
i reallyyyy liked the ritual of the bezerker and the draugr fight, the fart stuff, I could've done without it
It has admirable qualities but it’s Eggers weakest by far
technically top-notch but the story drags way too much and I don't think it's budget justifies the style/tone of the movie.
Yes and to tack on I have issues with the main character, personally didn’t find him a compellingly written protagonist. The setting of the ending fight scene felt kind of forced and made me feel like I was watching prequel Star Wars. I love some beats (when he obtains the blade from its owner and the trippy night forest scene) in this movie and his attention to historical and cultural detail. I think Kidman and Joy bolster it with strong supporting performances but all in all it felt like a bit of a missed opportunity.
I thought Kidman was miscast actually. But yeah the overall direction of the movie was an odd one. As mentioned in the article, I found it weird that a respected berzerker would abandon his crew to do a solo revenge run when they could've just rallied together and attacked his uncle's lands. I think the uniqueness of the berzerker to cinema made the abandonment of that plot line criminal for a safe and familiar revenge plot. Amleth was much more interesting as a berzerker with a code.
I really like Kidman in this one.
Classic revenge plot offering little entertainment. The Revenant, very similar movie, is WAY better.
which I also plan on rewatching on that note, that was a movie that I thought was interesting and well acted but bloated like crazy.
I didn’t like it the first go around so I don’t think a rewatch would do me any good…
makes sense lol I'd say up until the raid sequence is worth some level of rewatch but beyond that, hard sell from me
Didn't care for it, personally. It didn't get me emotionally involved in the characters at all and the story just seemed . . . I dunno, kinda not that interesting. I felt like it was trying to be Braveheart but not succeeding in the slightest. Too much focus on the visuals and not enough on the story/character/dialogue.
in the end similiar to my own thoughts, although I'd say a closer film it's emulating is the green knight (they came out within a year of each other so not sure if one had any bearing on the other but the two are so similiar in many respects)
All style no substance. Loved the first watch. Felt duped on the second where when you think about how it steals elements from Hamlet and Macbeth and frames them in a Viking narrative. I felt like films like Valhalla Rising were much more original and better rewatches. It’s actually sad bc they have so much talent in the cast but it just doesn’t do it like Eggers other films.
more how Hamlet (Shakespeare) stole from the icelandic sagas. I think the bigger dupe is how it ditches the viking narrative altogether at the end of the first act.
I would have rather of had him stick closer to the Amleth saga than what we got which felt like a hybrid of the Viking saga with elements of Shakespeare’s adaptation. The film would have been much more enjoyable if Eggers stayed faithful to the original saga vs what we got. Which is weird bc he’s is usually very on point with his research/history. A more faithful adaptation of the saga with this cast would have been very enjoyable IMO.
The movie would 100 times better if they get rid of the green goblin farting scene and recast that lil kid.
yeah that was a weird scene, i get it must be some sort of ceremony rooted in tradition (assuming), but it's one of those things that could've been reworked somehow.
They could have just had a shroom vision and leave it at that
would've been a more plausible and organic (no pun intended) way of foreshadowing the bezerker stuff later on
It's a decent movie.
It's a critique of the revenge trope. Amleth destroys every shred of happiness in the lives of those around him out of his belief in honor. He murders his mother, children, countless bystanders and dedicates years of his life in slavery to honor his father and in the end he is rewarded with death. It was not a simple plot.
oh 100%. It just didn't land for me in the end. I totally recognized that I wasn't supposed to root for Amleth but that made the experience feel hollow for me.
I wanted to like it, but I didn’t.
Beautiful cinematography, art direction and acting. Story felt gutless and unoriginal.
pretty much sadly.
The fart scene was when I began to check out, unfortunately.
yeah that was...odd.
I agree. The first half is great with the Viking berserker setting, culminating in that village raid. Then we get a second half that just drags on and is nowhere near as entertaining or interesting.
100%
Movie is beautiful boring mess with very uneven performances top to bottom.
The visuals and tone are stunning but the act as a whole is a bit weird, not the most rewatchable.
The movie goes down hill once he sneaks onto the slave boat. I just watched it again until that scene and it is a great movie until then!
I'd agree. Right up until he ditches the berzerkers, Northman was onto something.
I was so excited for this movie after watching the trailer, I even rented it on Amazon when it came out and was so disappointed!
Yea…it’s not great, very slow with no payoff
I didn’t really like it much when I saw it in theaters. It had a lot of things I love about Eggers as a film maker, but I couldn’t stay invested in the story. I might revisit it to see if I missed something
Maybe you'll have a different experience than me, I definitely didn't gain anything other than frustration
Yeah. I still love Robert Eggers as a film maker, tho. And I’m excited to see what Nosferatu will be like
I completely forgot he was working on that. Slow burn horror fits Egger's style much more than historical/fantastical epic.
I definitely agree
Man I love period pieces but fuxk this one was a major let down, and I think Ethan hawk had a lack luster performance especially the wolf howling part….i reckon that might be a tough scene for anyone I especially feel he was ill suited for the task
The wolf howling and farting scene absolutely took me out of the movie. The movie would be wah better without that scene
1000%
I thought Ethan was one of the better aspects, his accent didn't seem too cringe and he seemed to be invested, Kidman seemed to be sleepwalking a bit through the role.
Maybe it was his accent that got me
I can understand that, it didn't bother me but it is a very obvious put on accent.
M glad someone else felt the same way.
Good idea. Bad movie.
I wouldn't say bad but just okay at best. It had some good moments and on a technical level, no way it can be called bad.
I just thought it was so underwhelming. Maybe my hopes were too high? Idk
props to the marketing department for getting the hopes so high for a lot of people then!
😆 yes. As someone in that profession myself I guess I can appreciate that!
I did my fair share of advertising and marketing in univeristy so I too must tip my hat to whomever cut that trailer!
I had to turn it off after 20 mins.
so right when he becomes an adult more or less?
Pretty much
Its a disappointment and just a horrible movie overall
I thought it was awesome
All power to you! I wish I thought that, this material is right up my alley.
Not a good show.
movie\*
The trailer made that film look like it was going to amazing but it wasn't great not bad but not great.
yeah it should've been "i can't wait to watch this again" but now that I have, I'm like eh I don't feel the need to ever watch this again and that's a shame.
I just thought it was super weird. Like I needed to be on a lot of drugs to understand it.
plus the weirdness didn't offer anything. Like the draugr scene, where he gets the sword, did it or did it not happen. If it did, why show it as a vision first? If it didn't, why bother showing the fight at all? Felt weird for the sake of it being weird/trippy.
Yes 💯. I felt like it could of had so much more action. I had to watch it twice because everyone said how great it was. Second time I did like it more. Then they could of showed him taking people out instead of just showing the aftermath.
that said, the raid sequence, from a cinematography and choreography point of view, was top-notch
The movie itself is ok but I expected a masterpiece after so much positive critics, therefore I was quite disappointed by The Northman and was pretty much annoyed by the fake Nordic accent too. This is an English movie so please let them speak English or use the original Nordic Language.
Or, like the lead, hire scandanavian leads to speak either language.
I was throughly underwhelmed. Needed a better stunt coordinator and a little bit less indulgence from the editor IMO.
what aspects of the edits come to mind?
There were just bits everywhere that could have lost a second or two, and some really bad transitions that one would think should have a lot more takes to use being that they're crucial scenes. The first battle stuck out as having a combo of bad action plus bad shot choice. And then there's the magic, dick-hiding smoke scene.
the magic smoke is also in the final battle so there's the one two combo in that department. Final battle was weird, it was weirdly restrained but there was no reactions to the heat on their feet.
It borders edgy and stupid, and can fall on either side of the wall depending on mood, drugs or booze consumption.
this movie seems to encourage magik mushrooms and yes, I put the k there intentionally because you need next level witchcraft mushrooms apparently for this one lol
it’s kind of a really shitty movie with really shitty people doing really shitty things to everyone in every direction. Movies fall apart with no sympathetic characters
except probably anya taylor joy's character, apart from that, yup everyone's a shitheat and it makes it hard to root for anyone.
My least favorite Eggers film. I don’t dislike it but the story arch was quite frankly boring, which is weird given the subject matter of his other films, youd think one of those would manage to be more boring than the Viking film
I think the studio wanted an action adventure film, Eggers wanted a trippy withcraft film set in viking times, studio got final cut but could only do so much with Eggers' material so we got a weirdly presented movie.
I know it’s beloved by a lot, but It just did not keep me engaged. Granted I’ve only seen it once maybe I should give it another watch . To really form an opinion
seems like most on this thread aren't a big fan of it so maybe it's not as beloved as it was at release?
I dont know why you liked it in the first place. Its not a good film. It feels like it was a film student who got a grant to make a research documentary on ancient Viking Rituals and then tried to add in a story element to try and make movie.
More to the point, I was left pondering whether I liked it or not and most movies these days don't have me thinking about whether I liked a movie or not, so at the time, I at least had to give it some recognition for that but upon second viewing, my opinion is much clearer.
I remember expecting a world building epic (Gladiator esque) tale and it felt like the World of the Northman got smaller and smaller and then ended in a cool but letdown of a final battle.
Yeah it was weird to have the viking angle be marketed so heavily only for the movie to abandon it so early on in the movie. a viking epic is what a lot of people were expecting I'd wager.
Solid film, not great, not bad. The Lighthouse is still my favorite.
Its pretty boring
It’s a good movie but damn it’s a snail pacer.
I'd say the middle is, the first act I thought had a good pace
It’s bad.
it starts off really well to give it credit where credit's due, the raid sequence is one of the best shot action sequences of 2022
Did you take some mushrooms like a Viking would
I did and it was still boring :(
Ahhhoooooo take wolf form
that explains why I didn't like it, needed to achieve wolf form. silly me.
That movie is classified onesie. As in you only watch it once. Stop doing that to yourself.
lol I'll be doing the same for The Green Knight this month, same boat but can't avoid seeing if opinions change over time
Green Knight wasn't even enjoyable on the first watch.
I was left with a feeling of "I'm not sure if I hate this movie or love it" and I'm still undecided, so props to the movie for at least making me think about it for so long
I watched it but felt it was meh but was blown away by the cinematography.
cinematography was really good, no doubt about it.
Whenever you go way back....like operas for instance, the stories are a little simpler. Don't expect Inception type of twists. It is a simple story of revenge. It is well made and brilliantly acted.
wasn't expecting inception, but even something like braveheart or gladiator have the revenge angle and aren't super complex, they're fairly simple. only difference is we like the leads and amleth, by design, isn't a likeable lead. I just didn't sympathize with anyone in the movie and I know the movie is about the cycle of revenge and how it takes a certain type of individual to undertake that mission, but it still felt hollow to me in the end.
Unfortunately for The Northman there’s been really fantastic Viking tv shows like The Last Kingdom and two different Vikings shows on the history channel and Netflix
I really loved TLK, Vikings was good until ragnar left and valhalla is...ok, I guess. Honestly I forgot I watched season 2.
Where those shows better than The Northman though? I certainly thought so.
TLK and Vikings certainly, valhalla is pretty forgetable whereas northman, for better or for worse, can't be called forgettable.
Northman is completely forgettable IMO
It is using an extremelyyyy generic historical trope (Last Kingdom, Vikings, many shows and films have done this Scandinavian revenge / take back homeland thing in recent years). Considering the director did creatively oober ambitious titles like The Witch and The Lighthouse, it's hard to believe he would choose this as his follow up project. The prior films were thought provoking and intriguing, while The Northman not so much...
completely agree.
This film was an adaptation of the old Viking story that Shakespeare had adapted into the story of Hamlet. Those stories propped up violence, revenge, and other ideas which would fall into the scope of “toxic masculinity.” While the older stories tried to portray those ideas in a positive light, this version of the story pretty much tried to portray it negatively. The raping and village/child-burning Vikings were not shown as “heroes” or righteous in any way. (Though they were shown to believe they were) The film basically tries to point out how wrong and/or foolish the toxic masculinity, that’s often been portrayed positivity in so many stories, really is. I believe many people just wanted to see “a cool Viking movie” and were disappointed, because the movie basically tries to tell you that Vikings aren’t really that cool, they’re bloodthirsty, murdering, raping, scumbags. The idea/theme of revenge and the cycle of viscous violence is shown to be terrible, not cool or exciting. It’s a film that makes points about the way we’ve viewed these types of stories and characters and tries to portray them in a more realistically negative light, by re-telling a classic tale which many others have drawn inspiration from, and making it feel ridiculous, wrong, and/or negative. Many people wanted and/or expected it to be more in line with the types of stories that the film actually mocks and/or criticizes, so a large mix of viewers either didn’t quite get it and just thought it was weird, didn’t like it because it was weird, or did understand it and didn’t like that it wasn’t what they thought it would be. It probably isn’t for everyone, but if you don’t mind films/stories which are meant to criticize and/or comment on trends and themes of other stories, The Northman does a pretty solid job of that.
I think the marketing played a big part in that misconception for what this movie was going to be versus what it actually was. But that's why I think Eggers should've stuck with the berzerker angle, having them be truely animalistic terrible beings while Amleth refuses to cut down women and children during the raid could've created some tension between them and questioned the fabric of humanity in a time when pilaging was seen as okay by that society.
This movie was just incredible visual and audio entertainment. Original and electric. So much fun. No it’s not an epic linear story driven revenge drama like braveheart or last of the Mohicans, but it was still fun as hell.
Loved this movie. Sad it wasn’t more popular, I think this is the perfect mix of the stuff Eggers does and a mainstream movie. Cant wait to watch it again .
How many times have you watched it?
Once. I usually don’t rewatch movies until years after
depends on the movie for me, could be years, could be annually