Rating: 9.0
I had no idea what I was getting into with “The Northman”. But oh boy am I ever glad I saw it! It’s a cinematic masterpiece; a career best from Robert Eggers. Until now, I’ve only liked Eggers’ other films, this was the first that I undoubtedly loved! Its visceral, cerebral, and most of all a brutal force of a film. I was left speechless when it ended, it’s a truly stunning movie. It is technically phenomenal, tells a great, very Shakespearean story and has some incredible performances, there’s just so many aspects I liked about it! And it was one that I didn’t think I’d like, never mind love! It wasn’t the movie I thought it would be, and I tended to like it more and more as it went on! I feel like it will be a film that really sits with me, it was such a welcome surprise!
I’ve heard people say this film is a mix between “300” and “Midsommar”, which is true, but I think a better comparison is “The Green Knight” mixed with “The Revenant” with a little bit of “The Tragedy of Macbeth” sprinkled in! It’s an incredible viking revenge tale, and so atmospheric and visceral, it truly feels like you have time traveled into the world of the movie. I’ve never had an experience quite like it where I was convinced I was watching something made in Viking times, and I felt like I was there! I attribute this to Eggers’ brilliant writing and direction. The film is very authentic and stylistically perfect for what it needed to be. The stunning production design, costuming and even lighting works to create such a strong sense of verisimilitude. I especially loved the lighting, you could tell everything was lit either naturally or by candle/torch to really help sell the world. I also loved how Eggers’ made it feel very cerebral too, from the use of the lucid dream sequences or the inclusion of norse mythology. The writing is also just perfect. It’s excellently layered, has great Shakespearean-like dialogue and qualities to it, and mixed in are some excellent and insightful thematic explorations on topics like the cycle of violence, greed, and spiritual journeys. The plot, while telling a bloody revenge tale, was also very nuanced and had some pretty great twists that I didn’t see coming. There were so many jaw dropping moments in this film, whether because of the story, a disturbing element, or some clever filmmaking!
Without the technical elements, this film wouldn’t be as strong. I touched on the lack of artificial lighting earlier (which helped with authenticity), as well as the production design and costuming, but what I was most blown away by was the sound design. It didn’t let up, and helped create a sense of rhythm and flow to the film. When scenes would transition to the next, the epic soundtrack would be there to blend it all into one large sequence. The score was so unique, and gave the film an unsettling, unnerving and as I mentioned, cerebral, feel. I also loved how they placed sounds around the theatre, this film used the back channels of surround sound so well to fully encapsulate you in the film, making it such a crazy experience. The cinematography was also beautiful, the film is a visual marvel, but I have to admit at times I was so enamoured by the film (and felt like I was right in it) that I didn’t even notice it at times. There was an excellently used long take early in the film which was incredible to watch as it took place over a whole (brutal and bloody) action sequence! The use of silhouettes was also really well done, especially in the final epic battle. I also have to say the locations chosen to film on were remarkably gorgeous! I was also surprised at the pacing of the film, it moved much faster than I thought it would and was very tightly edited!
Everything in this film was firing on all cylinders. Its a true cinematic masterpiece from Robert Eggers! And I haven’t even touched on the acting yet, which was phenomenal! Alexander Skarsgård was a beast here, he delivered a performance so animalistic and full of rage unlike anything I’ve seen. Anya Taylor-Joy and Nicole Kidman were also both excellent! All the performances were just perfect, but the best part was that you never noticed it, you could only ever see the characters and not the people playing them, which is great for the movie and tells you everything you need to know about the acting. The action was also awesome, it’s quite graphic and gory but has a very epic and gritty sense to it! It’s insanely intense, just a perfect piece of work from Eggers. It’s his most accessible film to mainstream audiences and I really hope you go out to see it; it’s an experience as close to time travelling to the viking age as you can get! I’m so happy and so surprised I loved this film, it just completely stunned me with how visceral and brutal it was, not to mention how cinematically excellent it is as a piece of film! Go see it, you haven’t seen anything quite like it!
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IMDb Rating: 7.9/10
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 89%
RT Audience Score: 72%
Metacritic Score: 82
CinemaScore: B
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Focus Features
Directed by Robert Eggers
Written by Sjón & Robert Eggers
Cast: Alexander Skarsgård, Nicole Kidman, Claes Bang, Anya Taylor-Joy, Ethan Hawke, Björk, Willem Dafoe
Runtime: 2hr 16min
Rating: 14A
Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, History, Thriller
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Prince Amleth is on the verge of becoming a man when his father is brutally murdered by his uncle, who kidnaps the boy's mother. Two decades later, Amleth is now a Viking who raids Slavic villages. He soon meets a seeress who reminds him of his vow -- save his mother, kill his uncle, avenge his father.
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Fun Fact: Very loosely based on the story of Amleth, which appears in the Gesta Danorum (History of the Danes) written circa 1200 by Saxo Grammaticus - but based on earlier oral traditions. Amleth inspired Shakespeare's Hamlet, though it is doubtful that Shakespeare read Grammaticus directly.
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