Well, the wait is finally over. As promised, I was at the first showing in Derry of Robert Eggers’ new Viking revenge movie The Northman
It was only last night I quickly checked the rating at my local cinema. It was 15s. I thought, nope, it can’t be…double-checked, yup, 15s. That shouldn’t matter but when you’re Robert Eggers and making a Viking revenge saga, then I imagined the most brutal Viking production we have ever seen. It was far from that, there are definitely some amazing kills, beheadings, gore and splatter but I honestly think we saw most of the deaths in tv shows like Vikings, The Last Kingdom or Game of Thrones.
The Northman is still a great historical epic, it just didn’t quite reach the level of crazy I was hoping for. As for the story, well, it’s our basic revenge tale that plays out almost exactly how you’d imagine it.
It is wonderfully shot, directed and packed with outstanding cinematography (a lot shot in my neck of the woods in Northern Ireland). It may sound like I’m complaining but I am far from it. This is only Eggers’ third fkn movie. In my opinion, The Northman is one hell of an achievement. First, we got the New England folk horror, The VVITCH and then The Lighthouse. Those two movies couldn’t be more different than each other. Then for his 3rd flick, he tackles a Viking story and fkn nails that genre too. I think it’s safe to say he can pretty much tackle any genre with great results. I can’t help but think though that the studio may have had a bit too much saying.
Although not as gruesome and crazy as I hoped, I still had a fun time. Go see it on the big screen. Go support it. It was amazing to see an almost packed-out theatre. Let’s keep that going! I can’t wait to see what he does with his Nosferatu remake.
As always, thanks for reading.
7/10