The Northman

 This review may contain spoilers!

 

The Northman follows Amleth, a young viking prince who seeks to avenge the murder of his father at the hands of his uncle. What I really enjoyed about this film was the more grounded qualities, seeing a young boy transition into this hardened man who was entirely defined by revenge. Watching Amleth become initiated as a young prince defined by his blood ties was a great start and then seeing Amleth as an adult forged by intense battle and guided back to his uncle by fate was fascinating. I greatly enjoyed seeing him work through the complexities of living undercover as a slave, garnering loyalty to his uncle's family and then butchering those who became a target of his hatred. The final battle of the film was such a powerful moment too; now his uncle was fighting fuelled by rage, while Amleth had learnt to fight for more than this. In his final moments Amleth realised he couldn't win the battle and walk away, nor could he lose and let his uncle go on and murder his young family. Ultimately watching Amleth give his life in honour of his family rather than guided by blind vengeance was exceptional and made for a great closing ten minutes. One thing I really enjoy about Eggers is the evolution of his visual style as a director, the camera work in this one is really beautiful. He frames some very static shots that remind you why cinema is an art form in the best way possible, there is an intensity to how he shoots that captures every character's expression and inner monologue. Carolan and Gainsborough, who crafted the score for this feature, did something very transcendant here; the music used throughout is very primal and raw and fits Eggers provocative sense of direction.

 

Alexander Skarsgård, who played Amleth, made for a fine protagonist; the intense rage that boiled right behind his eyes was something potent and consistent. Nicole Kidman, who played Queen Gudrún, was an antagonist I found rather vile but in a well-performed way; Kidman treats her firstborn with such reprehension and loathing that you found her a character that was easy to hate. Ethan Hawke, who played King Aurvandil War-Raven, was a performance that really kicked the film off at full stride; seeing the reverent yet headstrong manner Hawke portrayed his Viking monarch was impressive. Anya Taylor-Joy, who played Olga of the Birch Forest, is an actress who has grown immensely in her craft since her last outing with Eggers; the way Taylor-Joy presents this young woman fighting fiercely against her captors is really well done. Elliot Rose, who played Gunnar, is such an excellent performance from a young actor; Rose has this stubborn and adventurous streak that makes him such a likeable character to watch. Willem Dafoe, who played Heimir The Fool, is entertaining as the crude Fool of Hawke's Viking court; but more intriguing was the wild intonations of religion and fate Dafoe delivers.

However, the best performance came from Claes Bang, who played Fjölnir The Brotherless. This performance was by far the most multi-faceted out of any of the cast. I loved seeing Bang right from his very stern if not noble introduction; he commanded the room and felt like a warrior born. Yet seeing Fjölnir turn from this stoic lieutenant to his brother to the man betraying him was such a great switch; you see the calculating mind whirring as he enacts the whole plot. Later in the feature when we return to Bang he's an almost gentler leader, a better one than Hawke's Aurvandil in how he engages with others. We see the callous way in which he holds power over his slaves, the love he bears his family and the fierce loyalty he shows his men. Bang's depiction of Fjölnir as a reverent worshipper is very well handled and depicted in a fascinating manner throughout. Seeing the rage and fear from this performer as his role starts to lose control and is confronted with loss in his own village is spectacular. The man puts everything into that final scene, showing a hollowed out force of hatred that mirrored Skarsgård's role perfectly.

I struggle with Robert Eggers as a director, he often presents his narratives in the style of grim folklore. Very fascinating in theory, but I often find he smashes this style alongside a bleak realism in a way that is extremely jarring. For instance, this film anchors itself quite firmly to the Nordic mythology; often twinning the path of the main protagonist to a preordained destiny or having his lover being able to pull down a gust of wind from the Gods. You go from very grounded battles to sudden depictions of a conspiracy of ravens saving the protagonist from his restraints or a life and death battle with a draugr that turns out to be a dream sequence. This film turns the way it wants to tell its story in many different directions but it feels like seeing something in a fun house mirror. There are two things going on; they' almost identical, but not quite. I also find that Eggers crafts his features around provocative violence, nudity or sexual acts in a way that often reads as vulgar for the sake of it. This is a feature that never earns those moments; watching Amleth slowly push his sword through the stump of a man's nose is shocking but it serves no point. Worse than this is we get acts like Amleth and his mother having this big charged kissing scene that is extremely uncomfortable and serves little purpose other than to get under the audience's skin. The film loses itself in trying to push out there scenes a lot; you lose all sense of good storytelling when you have grown men and child actors scrabbling around pretending to be dogs, while also burping and farting. I really felt the special effects looked out of kilter with the rest of the piece, particularly the animals that were scattered throughout looked terrible. The fight choreography is pretty poor the minute you're watching a scene that had more than two people; often the action felt very rehearsed and timed out. Nothing about those action beats felt real or earned, which is probably a big factor of why the violence had to look gory to divert from lackluster combat.

Gustav Lindh, who played Thórir The Proud, was an actor who often felt like he was racing to keep up with Bang or Kidman or Skarsgård; often Lindh would deliver a scene that really presented a commanding presence and the next he would lilt and not deliver as strongly. Oscar Novak, who played Young Amleth, was a young performer who really didn't introduce the main protagonist strongly; watching Novak really go a little over the top in his performance made the first act a difficult one to watch.

I've really struggled with Robert Eggers' style of film thus far, but The Northman really worked to show what he can achieve with a greater budget and cast. I would give The Northman a 6.5/10.