Mike and I share a love of history and more often than not, such fascination filters down into other areas of life - including cinematic experiences.
I took a chance to indulge that history buff part of my brain and caught “The Northman” on its opening weekend.
While I enjoyed it overall, the plot is predictably about revenge and filled with graphic violence.
These Vikings are portrayed without apology in all of their glory and faults.
The Northman is an epic historical action drama film directed by Robert Eggers, and co-written by Eggers and Sjón.
Based on the legend of Amleth, the film stars Alexander Skarsgård (who also co-produced), Nicole Kidman, Claes Bang, Anya Taylor-Joy, Gustav Lindh, Ethan Hawke, Björk, Oscar Novak, Elliot Rose, Ingvar Sigurdsson, and Willem Dafoe.
It’s also rated R for strong bloody violence, some sexual content, and nudity and has a run time of 137 total minutes.
In A.D. 895, King Aurvandill War-Raven (Hawke) returns to his kingdom on the island of Hrafnsey after his overseas conquests and is reunited with his wife, Queen Gudrún (Kidman), and his son and heir, Prince Amleth (Novak).
The king and his son participate in a spiritual ceremony overseen by Aurvandill's jester, Heimir (Dafoe).
The next morning, masked warriors led by Aurvandill's brother, Fjölnir (Bang), ambush and murder the king.
After seeing his village massacred and his mother taken away screaming by his uncle, Amleth flees by boat swearing to avenge his father, save his mother and kill Fjölnir.
Amleth is found by a band of Vikings at sea and raised among them as a berserker.
About 20 years later, after an attack in the land of the Rus, Amleth (Skarsgård) encounters a Seeress (Björk) in the temple of Svetovit; the Seeress predicts that Amleth will soon take revenge on Fjölnir.
Amleth finds out that Fjölnir was overthrown by Harald of Norway and lives in exile in Iceland.
Amleth sneaks aboard a slave ship headed to Iceland.
Posing as a slave, he encounters a Slavic slave named Olga (Joy), who claims to be a sorceress.
Upon arrival, Amleth and the rest of the slaves are taken to Fjölnir's farm, where it is revealed that Queen Gudrún, now Fjölnir's wife, has borne him a son, Gunnar (Rose).
One night, Amleth flees the farm and encounters a He-Witch (Sigurdsson), who facilitates a spiritual dialogue between Amleth and the late Heimir.
It’s revealed that Heimir was murdered by Fjölnir.
He then tells Amleth about Night Blade, a magical sword that can only be drawn at night, and its location.
Amleth later obtains the sword by fighting an undead spirit for the blade.
A day later, Amleth is selected to compete in a game of knattleikr.
The game turns violent and Amleth saves Gunnar, who runs to play, from the rival team's champion Thorfinnr.
As a reward, Thorir (Lindh) - Fjölnir's eldest and adult son - allows Amleth to claim Olga as his wife.
During the evening celebrations, Amleth and Olga make love; they promise to work together to overcome Fjölnir and his men.
What follows is a bloody trail of bodies and tricks to make Fjölnir’s men think the farm is haunted by a demon with displeasure from the gods.
It’s a great period piece that fully embraces the epic Viking tales of old and is worth seeing in all its glory on the big screen.
