2022    Focus Features

Rated:  R

Length:  2 hrs  17min

Action ~ Adventure ~ Drama ~ Epic

Directed by:   Robert Eggers

Starring:  Alexander Skarsgård, Nicole Kidman, Claes Bang, Anya Taylor-Joy, Ethan Hawke, Björk, and Willem Dafoe.

“I will avenge you father!, I will save you mother!, I will kill you Fjölnir!”

Alexander Skarsgård stars as Prince Amleth who, after watching his Uncle Fjölnir(Claes Bang) kill his Father King Aurvandil(Ethan Hawke), vows revenge. Nicole Kidman stars as his mother Queen Gudrún who his Uncle now claims as his Queen. Amleth escapes and joins a a band of Vikings killing and plundering. Fueling his hatred and his desire for revenge. Several years later he finds out that his Uncle Fjölnir, now referred to as “Fjölnir The Brotherless”,  has lost his father’s throne and lives as a sheep farmer in Iceland.

Posing as a slave he boards a boat taking slaves to Iceland to hunt down his Uncle and exact revenge. He meets an enslaved Slavic woman named Olga who claims to be a sorceress. Together they escape and head out to find his Uncle and free his mother from his tyrant uncle. This movie is based on an old Norse legend, Amleth,  inspired by the character of Prince Hamlet, the hero of William Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.

The Northman is dark, brooding, bloody, savage and full of Viking lore and myth. It is hard to follow the story given all the Viking references that I do not know enough about. Some of the scenes were very strange and hard to understand, ceremonies and customs that I didn’t understand. Nicole Kidman has a very limited role, you only see her briefly in the beginning and towards the end.

It was a long watch at almost two and a half hours. It was very hard to follow the story as they went along. I didn’t really care for it, didn’t think it was that good. I definitely won’t watch it again.

Can’t recommend this one.

Two thumbs down.