I'm of two minds about Robert Eggers, the director who has given us the "The Witch," "The Lighthouse," and now the violent Viking epic, "The Northman." His style is immaculate and gorgeous, creating these obsessively researched, historically accurate peeks back into the unvarnished past. His characters enjoy a healthy spiritual life, often being harassed by spirits or monsters that are treated as very real and very powerful. In "The Northman," the protagonist exists in a harsh world of prophecy, sorcery, and uncaring gods. Eggers' commitment to his vision is admirable and makes for some great visuals. Get past the aesthetics, however, and we start to run into some trouble.
"The Northman" is loosely based on the Scandinavian legend of Amleth, one of the major influences on Shakespeare's "Hamlet" tragedy. As a boy, Amleth sees his father, King Aurvandill (Ethan Hawk), murdered by his uncle, Fjolnir (Claes Bang), who then carries off Amleth's mother Gudrun (Nicole Kidman) for good measure. Amleth escapes the slaughter and swears revenge, but is distracted from his goal for years, until he grows up into a very buff Alexander Skarsgaard. He's part of a band of ravaging Vikings, enslaving Slavic villagers - including the witchy Olga (Anya Taylor Joy) - when he receives a prophetic vision and learns that Fjolnir has relocated to Iceland. So, Amleth disguises himself as a slave to hitch a ride with the slavers headed there, and renews his quest for vengeance and glory.
Initially, I was impressed by the size and scope of the spectacle that Eggers orchestrates here. Universal provided him with his largest budget yet, roughly $90 million to give the audience all the hardcore Viking action that they could ask for. Eggers delivers, but his depiction of Viking life is remarkably brutal, nasty, and vicious. The beautifully orchestrated carnage is explicit and realistic, eliciting cringes far more often than it elicits cheers. It becomes very clear that no one in this universe is a hero worth cheering for, and Amleth's actions become more and more morally suspect as the story goes on. We watch him slaughter and subjugate the innocent without a thought, participate in ritual sacrifices, and make a lot of bad choices. Skarsgaard is compelling enough to give Amleth enough dramatic momentum to carry us through the story, but this is going to be a tough watch for many viewers.
Now, keep in mind that the filmmakers are erring on the side of authenticity, so it's not fair to judge Amleth's actions by modern standards. On the other hand, the fact that Eggers refused to compromise his vision to the extent of potentially alienating a significant portion of his potential audience says a lot about him as a filmmaker. "The Northman" is ultimately made for Viking nerds and historians, more than it is for the usual fans of Viking media. On the one hand, that's admirable. On the other hand, it's tedious and frustrating. The story is kept very basic, aside from a fairly predictable twist, and doesn't concern itself with any but the most perfunctory character arcs. When Amleth and Olga become lovers, it's because the story needs them to, not for any discernible chemistry between the actors or motivations expressed by the characters.
To be fair, "The Northman" has its pleasures. The horror crowd and the crowd that always wants more hard R-rated action films will be thrilled at how uncompromisingly gory this turned out. Nicole Kidman gets a fantastic scene where she gets to chew scenery and be monstrous in a way she hasn't onscreen in ages. Willem Dafoe puts in a solid appearance as a Fool, and Ethan Hawke doesn't seem capable of delivering a bad performance lately. Also, I'm probably overstating how bleak and unapproachable the film is. I mean, this isn't nearly as alienating as an Ari Aster or Darren Aronofky project, though it goes a step further than something like Nicholas Winding Refn's similar Viking picture, "Valhalla Rising."
I honestly don't know where Robert Eggers goes from here. He's not going to get a budget this size again for the foreseeable future, and I don't know that he necessarily should. I find myself simultaneously very impressed by "The Northman" and yet also completely unmoved. I'm still interested to see what his take on "Nosferatu" looks like, but at the same time I feel like I already know exactly what it would be. And that's worrying.
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