The Northman: Neon NZ Review

VVitch director Robert Eggers returns to an oeuvre he knows well for The Northman, a simple revenge tale painted large on an epic canvas.

Alexander Skarsgard is Amleth, a prince who sees his king father (Ethan Hawke, memorable in only a handful of scenes) murdered by his uncle Fjolnir (Bang) and his mother (nicole Kidman, underutilised) kidnapped in front of him. Fleeing the scene and swearing revenge, Amleth becomes part of a marauding group of killers, who ransack villages, pillage and take what they want.

But as Amleth finesses his plan for revenge, he finds an opportunity when he discovers his uncle has been outlawed and is living outlawed in Iceland...

Based on the legend of Amleth, Eggers fills his film with grandiose Norse mythology, talk of Valhalla and mountains of superstition and pagan ceremonies. Building on the work done by The VVitch, Eggers expands his canvas and throws everything into the production and look of The Northman. This is not a film that holds back from the realities of the times, and is all the better for it. 

This is a film that goes for scope, achieves it, and then some - there will hardly ever be another film that matches the look and feel of this Norse storyline, without others comparing it to Eggers' work. (It's also worth noting that Taylor-Joy reunites with both Eggers and Ralph Ineson from The VVitch.)

Unfortunately though, it's saddled with a script that is barely one note and which does little more than its quest for revenge storyline. 

Skarsgard spends most of the film simply skulking and hulking around, roaring and ranting in between fighting. Dialogue is guttural, muttered and in all honesty, stilted as it tries to inject mythos into the simplicity of the revenge tale. 

It may be part of Eggers' examination of masculinity in the Viking world and the cunning of women to survive that threads through large swathes of The Northman, and shows the dichotomy of the world they inhabit.

It doesn't quite work, and leaves parts of The Northman feeling drawn out in its 140 minute run time.

(There are latter portions of this too, which feel extremely reminiscent of parts of The VVitch, as Amleth stalks around a farmstead, various superstitions come into play and talk of evil haunts the air.)

But ultimately, The Northman is a visceral and gnarly knotted ride that's worth taking. There won't be any other film that looks like what Robert Eggers has committed to screen - and in truth, the grit and the grime may leave you feeling like the MCU has missed a trick with their iteration of Thor.