Robert Eggers has yet to hit with mainstream audiences like a Jorden Peele has had, considering the two movies that Eggers has made were in fact released to the public but maybe felt a little too artsy fartsy for the casual movie goer. Be that as may, Robert Eggers is a special and very gifted filmmaker that can do much even with the tiniest budgets. His first directorial effort in The Witch is one of the most compelling and thought provoking modern horror movies, and it gave us a taste on his style of terror and slowly building up tension. His follow up film The Lighthouse, while unique, wonderfully acted and authentically rich in detail, it’s a bit challenging to delineate it because of how abnormally odd it is. One could characterize it as a horror, drama or an uncanny character study on self isolation and abandonment. Eggers was two for two on his work in the directors chair and for the die hard film fandom, people would eagerly await the next Robert Eggers project. What’s even more fascinating about Eggers as a filmmaker is that he recently stated in an article where he’s more drawn to stories that aren’t set in modern times. It’s no telling when his remake of Nosferatu will go into production (which needs to happy immediately), but Eggers is clearly more fond and enticed with historical narratives set in older times and has surprisingly managed to offer some fresh history lessons but also telling deep and effective stories with great characters.
Until we get that Nosferatu remake, Robert Eggers decided to go back in history to tell an epic Viking revenge story with Focus Features (his first movie not with A24). This means his working with a much bigger budget, a star loaded cast and more shooting time. The Northman is an astounding and enthralling piece of art. It embodies the best ways of Gladiator, the work of Shakespeare and staying true to Viking history and mythology. The trailers sell more of action oriented story, but the true package and meat of this movie is a methodical, supernatural and psychological journey of revenge, anger and brute nature. With The Witch and The Lighthouse, Robert Egggers was able to craft all of the psychological tension in this arousing and dense Viking tale to make it so distinct from his two films, and perhaps his best film to date.
Based very loosely on the story of Amleth, a supposed (but likely fictional) Viking prince most famous today as the basis for Shakespeare’s Hamlet, The Northman tells the story of a young prince becoming a man and soon to become the next King. Prince Amleth’s father is tragically murdered by his own brother, who also kidnaps the boy’s mother. Many decades later, Amleth is now a grown and vengeful Viking who’s main goal is to avenge his father, save his mother and kill his Fjölnir.
The Northman, while Eggers’ most accessible film, still carries his unique and artsy style from the entire scope of this movie. Where The Witch and The Lighthouse felt catered to a more indie style of filmmaking, The Northman’s style and approach feels more appropriate for the wider movie going public. While it’s thematically rich in it’s lore and offers a great sense of mysticism with Norse mythology and storytelling, The Northman has more basic structure and easier grasp of understanding character motivations, their struggles and psychological conflicts. With this being another period piece in Eggers’ work, The Northman continues that trend by telling a great story but also being an interesting history assessment. The shots of Iceland, the villages to the sequence on the volcano are absolutely breathtaking that capture history like reading it from a textbook. Working with a bigger budget helped by making the sets and the visuals of this movie shine incredibly well.
As far as his camera work goes, this is Eggers’ most efficient work yet. With such a limitation on cuts, Eggers lets each scene digest with you from an expansive standpoint to let each scene breathe. Most of the action sequences were shot in one take and while this has the most action than in any of his previous work, Eggers knows how to let each action scene play out and especially gives respect the orchestration of the stunt work at play. All three of his movies are visually great in their own distinctive way, but The Northman is an epic inducing, glorious and bloody good looking film with visuals that sink into your mind. It’s not an action heavy movie, but each action sequence is brutal, gut wrenching and deeply grotesque. You feel the heaviness, the ferocity and the savageness of each death done by a Viking. It’s raw, haunting and gloriously created and that all ties into how effective of a revenge tale this movie is. The movies strongest theme of this movie is it’s revenge angle, which you really feel in this movie. It elevates the epic-ness, the weight in the sword play and makes our main character’s journey even more stimulating. The movie does build at a slow pace that when we get to the final showdown, you’re at loss for words.
The performances from the entire cast as truly remarkable but perhaps the greatest performance from this movie is the performance that’s given by Alexander Skarsgård. Skarsgård is an absolute animal in this movie to the point where it almost makes him as anti-hero. He’s ruthless, untamed, barbarous but Skarsgård still conveys great emotional complexity. Anya Taylor Joy, having worked with Eggers on The Witch, is phenomenal as always. Nicole Kidman gives an Oscar worthy performance, as does Willem Dafoe and Ethan Hawke. Claes Bang as Uncle Fjölnir (the film’s main villain), is a powerful and brilliant villain. The moment this character is introduced you feel a satanic presence that’s lurking every time he shows up on screen. The character work done in this movie is impeccable.
The Northman is the best movie of the year. It features powerful and effective performances, brutal and haunting violence with a finale that leaves you at loss for words. Gorgeous visuals, barbarism in tone, atmosphere and maybe Eggers’ best movie to date. This is the kind of epic storytelling that sticks with you for years. This is a brutal, savage and powerful movie that excels on capturing what Vikings were like.
My grade for The Northman: A+
Zane's take at the Cinema's 