OnScreen Review: "The Northman"
Ken Jones, Chief Film Critic
“I will avenge you, Father!”
“I will save you, Mother!”
“I will kill you, Fjölnir!”
Sometimes, the set up for a movie is just beautifully simple, such as here in The Northman, a Viking revenge tale from director Robert Eggers. Egger’s third feature film is steeped in family drama, vengeance, fate, and the mystical. It is also a film that further solidifies his place as a director to keep an eye on whenever he has a new project in the works.
The story begins in 895 AD, with the slaying of King Aurvandill War-Raven (Ethan Hawke) by his brother Fjölnir (Claes Bang), the taking of his wife Queen Gudrún (Nicole Kidman), and the fleeing of young Amleth (Oscar Novak), uttering those three exclamations above as he rows away. When he is a grown man, Amleth (Alexander Skarsgård) is reminded of the vows he made to his father and returns to seek vengeance upon his uncle. Along the way, he crosses paths with Olga of the Birch Forest (Anya Taylor-Joy), a kind of sorceress. Where he has the strength to break men’s bones, she breaks their minds. They’re a formidable tandem as they enter his uncle’s fledgling kingdom in Iceland as slaves.
I am, admittedly, a sucker for revenge movies. There is often a straightforward nature to the story; a clearcut sense of purpose (and often justice) and drive to the narrative. Often, the protagonists are like sharks that are singularly focused on the task before them, and they will do whatever it takes to accomplish their mission. Sometimes the protagonist is aware of the cost, which can include his life, from the outset and is undeterred, and sometimes the cost is more than they realized, but make no mistake, there is always a cost to revenge. Amleth, the titular northman, is aware of the cost.
What he is not aware of, though, is that not everything is as it seemed to him when he was a child and what he saw and experienced on that fateful day. The equation changes and casts a small shade of doubt on whether his quest is worthwhile and not misguided because he was not in possession of the full story. Amleth feels duty bound by not just in honoring his father and what he feels sworn to do, but there is also the sense of reclaiming something stolen from him, his birthright.
Here, the story also weaves in the mystical elements of Norse mythology. Willem Dafoe has a minor roll as a jester who also doubles as a mystic that presides over a father and son ritual ceremony early on. As an adult, Amleth encounters a seeress (portrayed by Björk) that recounts his pledge of vengeance but also speaks prophecy over his future, both what he must acquire to kill his uncle (a special sword) and also what is at stake in the future; two paths are laid before him, and he must choose his fate. At times, he is also aided by ravens, in a nod to his father, and, at one point, a totally badass-looking Valkyrie.
The film is morally ambiguous, too. When we first encounter the grown Amleth, he is a berserker laying siege to a walled village. It is a brutal scene showing the barbarism and brutality of the life he leads and the lack of mercy shown to the villagers, to the extreme. While this is a straightforward tale of vengeance, scenes like this are a reminder that there are no heroes in this world; Amleth is no saint on a righteous cause.
Alexander Skarsgård is a hulking brute of a man in this film. Physically, he is often hunched over, coming across less man and more animalistic in disposition. Or perhaps he is burdened by his task, literally bent on vengeance. It is an imposing performance. There are also fleeting moments where he realizes he has never contemplated a life apart from his quest for vengeance and what that might look like. Reuniting with Eggers after working together on The VVitch, Anya Taylor-Joy continues to be one of the most compelling actresses working. Claes Bang and Nicole Kidman also give great, layered supporting performances.
Eggers and cinematographer Jarin Blaschke, whom he has collaborated with on all three of his films, make the most of their filming locations, mostly in Northern Ireland, but some in Iceland. To say this film is visually striking is an understatement. The VVitch was a mostly dreary-looking film and The Lighthouse was in black and white. It’s not a dramatic expansion of his color palette here, but there are some striking visuals nonetheless, complete with a Chekhov’s volcano that provides a fantastic backdrop to the conclusion of the film.
With a bigger budget than in his previous films, Robert Eggers has taken the next step up in Hollywood and delivered. The Northman is a satisfying blend of revenge, action, mythology, family drama, and a little bit of love thrown in for good measure.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars