The Northman

 

The Northman
Starring Alexander Skarsgard, Anya Taylor-Joy, Ethan Hawke, Nicole Kidman
Directed by Robert Eggers

Robert Eggers is one of this generation's most powerful directorial voices, with only three films under his belt thus far. "The Witch" single-handedly introduced the concept of "elevated" horror. "The Lighthouse" was a visual and visceral wonder featuring two actors giving the performances of their stellar careers. "The Northman" is his first "major" blockbuster, a film longer than anything he's done before, and while showcasing moments of his eccentric brilliance, sometimes falls under the typical epic pattern of intense fighting sequences mixed with few dramatic moments but somehow not able to fully stick the landing due to a surprisingly lack of characterization.

Young Amelth (Oscar Novak) idolizes his father, King Aruvandill (Ethan Hawke), and when he comes home successful from an oversea conquest, the two embark in a special vision quest led by the court jester Heimir the Fool (Willem Dafoe). Upon leaving the home, they're attacked and Aruvandill is struck dead by his brother, Fjolnir (Claes Bang). Amleth arrives home to find his mother, Queen Gudrun (Nicole Kidman), being taken captive, and flees, promising vengeance.

Years later, a now-grown Amleth (Alexander Skarsgard) is a Viking berserker who's quest for vengeance is re-invigorated after seeing a Seeress and disguises himself as a slave to infiltrate Fjolnir's farm, finding that his mother has married him and given birth to a son. Together with fellow slave and sorceress Olga (Anya Taylor-Joy), Amleth brings ruin to Fjolnir's land as he patiently waits for his chance to take full revenge - to avenge his father, save his mother, and kill Fjolnir.

If you think this story sounds familiar, it's because the legend of Amleth (which has existed since around the 10th century) was the direct inspiration for William Shakespeare's classic tale Hamlet. Yet even despite that, it's a tale that's truly as old as time: vengeance, and how it could absolutely corrupt a person to the point where he doesn't fully understand the good in the world because he's so clouded by hatred for wrongs occurred in the past. What makes it interesting is that you don't know which direction it will go, because Eggers not only directed it, but co-wrote the script with Sjon, a novelist and poet who also co-wrote the polarizing film "Lamb." You can sense the poetic feel in the story, as while it tries to serve a forward narrative, it's more about moments in the film than the whole, leading to moments of sheer brilliance between longer times of drawn-out moments that seem weak in comparison.

That's not to say the film isn't epic or amazing, because it is - I just expected something...more. I don't know exactly what that "more" is, but ultimately I left the film with an empty feeling, thinking there had to be that something "more" that I never got. Again, despite this, what I did see was amazing, but more a sum of its parts than the whole. The opening, for instance, is the film's strongest point. The visuals when Amleth and Aurvandill visit Heimir the Fool is spellbinding, along with the moments Amleth visits the other Seeress and He-Witch later on. They feel like an Eggers project, which comes as no surprise because he collaborated with cinematographer Jarin Blaschke and editor Louise Ford, both of whom he worked with in "The Witch" and "The Lighthouse." There's one epic moment when Amleth and his Viking berserkers infiltrate a village with severe bloodlust, and the camera follows him in a long single-take moment that showcases in all its gory goodness the violence that erupts around him.

The middle part of the film, to me anyway, is the part where the movie lacks the most. After infiltrating Fjolnir's land, Amleth and his sorceress friend Olga set to make his life a living hell, and there's not much character development outside of that. Amleth seeks bloodthirsty revenge, and that's all there is to the character, and Alexander Skarsgard is an obvious choice for the role as he's built like a brick house, and can really perform to the darkness that seethes inside his character. Olga has a few decent moments but is more confined by her gender's stereotypical role, and Anya Taylor-Joy (who reunites with Eggers after he introduced her to the world in "The Witch") does the most with what's she given, but could've been so much more. Fjolnir is barely there, and we know little to nothing about him from start to finish. Even Gudrun seems barely there, serving more as a background character than a fully fledged person, but Nicole Kidman still gives it her all specifically in one shocking scene. Maybe it's due to the overwhelming nature of the film in that it makes humanity seem more animalistic, but the emotional stakes just aren't there. For a film of its length, there should've been more depth to the characters than what scratched the surface, and the middle muddies the waters with slog-inducing moments between the bloody fighting that saves the film from being a total snore.

The ending is a mixed bag; in one sense it's supposed to stick the landing, but due to the lack of characterization before, serves to be rather anti-climactic. Even the final battle between Amleth and Fjolnir seems too rushed and lacking profundity, despite being shot on a fiery volcano and being a visionary wonder. What really saves this film, from start to finish, is Eggers' own unique brand of innovative visuals, mixed with some of the most gory, bloody fighting I've ever seen in a Viking epic - and Vikings are known to be rather bloodthirsty.

"The Northman" is bathed in the blood of vengeance, rage personified, and Amleth is tortured with a decision: kindness for your kin, or hate for your enemies. Will Amleth sacrifice Olga, his mother, and everything he loves in favor of achieving extreme retribution, or will he, essentially, "turn the other cheek" and find peace with those he loves? Or is there a way to have both, and defy the fates? These are important issues the movie addresses and - despite a lack of characterization - manages to really answer those questions by the end of it all. It's not as brilliant as his other work, but it's an intense tale that'll have you moving to the edge of your seat and give you a feast for the eyes and ears - and sometimes that's all we really want.

The Score: A+