Credit: Aiden Monaghan © 2021 Focus Features, LLC)
Writer/director Robert Eggers (The Lighthouse, The Witch) takes Shakespeare’s classic tale Hamlet and sets it in the time of the Vikings in his third feature film, The Northman.
The film opens with young Amleth (Oscar Novak) welcoming home his father – Aurvandil War-Raven (Ethan Hawke), King of the Vikings – home from war. The reunited father and son spend time with Heimir the Fool (Willem Dafoe) who prophecies that Amleth’s fate is set and he will not be able to escape it.
The following day while out hunting, Amleth witnesses his father being assassinated by his own brother, Fjölnir (Claes Bang), who desires both the kingdom and Queen Gudrún (Nicole Kidman) for himself. Amleth runs away and escapes the hunting assassins, and as he rows off into the ocean he declares, “I will avenge you, father. I will save you, mother. I will kill you, Fjolnir!”
Two decades pass and Amleth (Alexander Skarsgard) is now a strong Viking raider highly skilled at attacking Slavic villages. After a successful raid, Amleth meets a mysterious woman who reminds him of his promise to avenge his father’s murder.
Amleth sneaks aboard a boat delivering slaves to Fjölnir and meets Olga (Anya Taylor-Joy), a cunning beauty who he’s drawn to and has an almost immediate connection with. Upon arrival, he and Olga team up and begin making plans on exacting revenge on Fjolnir and saving his mother.
Blood-soaked and bizarre, The Northman is a loud, violent, and visually stunning film that suffers from too many one-dimensional characters and uneven, over-the-top performances. It’s a reworking of Hamlet with a brooding, grunting, and bloodthirsty Viking prince in the place of the melancholy Dane.
Alexander Skarsgard delivers a one-note performance as Amleth, the Viking prince out to avenge his father’s murder. Although extremely fit and physically intimidating, Skarsgard portrays Amleth as a hulking, all-brawn little-brain prince who depends greatly on visions he has about his future in determining how and when to kill his enemies. Skarsgard has zero chemistry with anyone onscreen, even Anya Taylor-Joy as Olga – Amleth’s only true ally.
Willem Defoe’s entertaining and extremely over-the-top performance as the King’s jester Heimir is one of the high points of the film. Unfortunately, he’s only in two scenes and, sadly, his talents are wasted.
Nicole Kidman’s performance feels staged and even forced as Queen Gudrún, Amleth’s mother who doesn’t appear to want to be rescued from Fjölnir after making a life with her new king. Kidman seems uncomfortable in the role and at times unsure of her character’s motivation and temperament.
Anya Taylor-Joy delivers the best performance in the film as Olga, Amleth’s friend, eventual lover, and co-conspirator in the plan to kill his uncle. Taylor-Joy portrays Olga not just as a tough and beautiful imprisoned slave whose defiant spirit won’t be broken but as a devious and manipulative woman fully capable of escaping from her captors and making a life with Amleth.
Claes Bang delivers a strong performance as Fjölnir, Amleth’s murderous uncle who’s enjoying reigning over his land and men until Amleth begins his slow and stealthy acts of revenge. Bang plays Fjölnir as a man to be reckoned with even as he also slowly starts to fear losing his family and land to an unknown enemy.
The direction, cinematography, and sets bring the dark and mud-soaked world of the Viking era to new realistic heights. The audience is immersed in the period and transported back to a time long gone from existence.
Ruthless and outlandish, The Northman is a brutal but ultimately hollow revamping of a Shakespeare classic.
GRADE: C
MPAA Rating: R for strong bloody violence, some sexual content, and nudity
Running Time: 2 hours 17 minutes
Release Date: April 22, 2022
Studio: Focus Features
