REVIEW #171 The Northman (2022)

The Northman follows Prince Amleth as his future kingdom is taken away from him by his uncle, who murders his father and kidnaps his mother. Now a grown man, a Viking raider, Amleth is reminded of his oath “avenge his father, save his mother, kill his uncle”.

The Northman combines the artistry of Robert Eggers with the violence and brutality of the Viking genre. With the later taking a backseat to allow for the outstanding acting, dialogue and cinematography to rise to the forefront of this beautiful feature film. This is Eggers’ third film and in my opinion, it’s his best yet! The performances from the entire cast are exceptional but Alexander Skarsgård, Anya Taylor Joy and Nicole Kidman stand out in particular. What I enjoyed about Eggers direction within the genre was how he didn’t try to glamorise the Viking way of life. Even when his protagonist was living it, it was uncomfortably brutal and hard to watch and that is a realistic take on what they were actually like. He also managed to keep The Northman incredibly intimate by maintaining a relatively small ensemble and set, it’s certainly larger than his previous films but it’s small in comparison to other Viking projects. The storyline itself surprised me, the trailer doesn’t really give anything away at all and I loved that. Robin Carolan and Sebastian Gainsborough created something special with the musical score, it blew me away, it was perfect. I’m finding it extremely difficult to identify any faults with the film, I guess there were a couple of scenes that I found quite comical and that really wasn’t the purpose. Eggers had a real focus on the tribal elements and spiritual side of Viking clans and some of the ceremonies did come across as quite silly to me, I won’t reveal the scenes but there is one that happens early on, I’m pretty sure the whole cinema had a little giggle at it. But overall it lived up to my high expectations, it was incredibly entertaining but it’s clear that Robert Eggers unique style is embedded in its DNA!

Overall (9/10)

Thanks for reading

Callan