The Northman (2022)

Directed by: Robert Eggers | 136 minutes | action, adventure, thriller | Actors: Alexander Skarsgård, Nicole Kidman, Claes Bang, Ethan Hawke, Anya Taylor-Joy, Gustav Lindh, Elliott Rose, Willem Dafoe, Phill Martin, Eldar Skar, Olwen Fouéré, Edgar Abram, Jack Gassmann, Ingvar Sigurdsson, Oscar Novak, Jack Walsh, Björk, Ian Whyte, Katie Pattinson, Andrea O’Neill, Rebecca Ineson, Kate Dickie, Ísadóra Bjarkardóttir Barney, Kevin Horsham, Seamus O’Hara, Scott Sinclair, Tadhg Murphy, James Yates, Hafþór Júlíus Björnsteson, Ralph Ineson

After an initiation ritual, young Prince Amleth sees his father, Raven King Aurvandill, being slaughtered by his uncle Fjölnir and henchmen. The young prince himself has to flee, because as heir to the throne, Amleth is of course anything but safe. His survival mantra speaks volumes: “I avenge you, father! I save you, mother! I will kill you, Fjolnir!”. No, ‘The Northman’ is not yet another update of ‘The Lion King’ (1994, Roger Allers & Rob Minkoff), but a straightforward revenge drama based on the legend of Prince Amleth and set in the mythical world of the Vikings. ‘The Northman’ turns out to be a cinematic saga to please.

Originally Robert Eggers started as an art director, but now he has taken the film world by storm. It started with the modest hit ‘The Witch’ (2015), a horror film that relies not so much on shocking violence but rather on a dark atmosphere. Then Eggers made the absurd black-and-white film “The Lighthouse” (2019) with former teenage star Robert Pattinson and the ever endearing Willem Dafoe. This lightly comic film unfolds like a nightmare about two lighthouse keepers on an otherwise deserted island: it resembles ‘Waiting for Godot’ (Samuel Beckett, 1948), but less minimalistic. For ‘The Northman’ Eggers and co-writer Sjón were also inspired by all kinds of literature and the banal, such as silly fart jokes. This also goes together wonderfully here. Eggers is increasingly able to find and monitor the balance between his own signature and genre.

In an interview on ‘The Northman’, Eggers reluctantly admitted that he was surprised at how macho the film has turned out to be. Indeed, this production has an ostentatious link in radiance and intensity with well-known historical spectacle and revenge films, such as ‘The Revenant’ (Alejandro G. Iñárritu, 2015), in which men in one piece struggle with the morality of revenge. Amleth, played by an impressive Alexander Skarsgard, is almost literally bent under it. His head is almost permanently at a somewhat odd angle, as if he’s really just another caveman who can only think one way. In his imagination Eggers’ film resembles ‘Conan the Barbarian’ (John Milius, 1982) most with ex-bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger as a morally incorruptible savage in a world full of sorcery and idolatry. Like ‘The Northman’, this golden oldie has few pretensions. Like Liam Neeson in his fight movies: revenge makes the man.

The women in ‘The Northman’ are then more interesting in terms of intellectual and emotional development, often because of the ruling patriarch they have to be. For example, as Queen Gudrún, Nicole Kidman is a more believable Lady Macbeth than Francis McDormand in “The Tragedy of Macbeth” (Joel Coen, 2021). Anya-Taylor Joy as Amleth’s sweetheart is also a force to be reckoned with. Like the Slavic Olga, the magician of the Birchwood, she wraps Amleth loosely around her fingers with a view to a common future.

All in all, ‘The Northman’ is a very enjoyable genre film. It looks visually beautiful and, except for the center part, runs quite smooth. In addition, it makes you nostalgic for classic Hollywood spectacle films such as ‘The Vikings’ (Richard Fleischer, 1958) in which Kirk Douglas plays a nasty one-eyed Viking prince with a crush on the beautiful Janet Leigh who prefers to lie in the arms of slave Eric (played by her then husband Tony Curtis). In terms of purpose, these productions are not inferior to each other: first high-quality entertainment, then the rest follows. Hopefully Eggers sees further potential in this and he will continue to provide a breath of fresh air through the dusty film vault of Hollywood.