Film Review: The Northman

I don’t recall where exactly I said this, but I remember writing at some point that one of the best attributes of Robert Eggers as a storyteller is the way he imbues the anxieties/mindsets/folk lore of a particular era, and takes them in a way that is absolutely at face value, without a hint of irony, cynicism, or any other post-modernist lens, at least, on the surface. The Witch feels so much like the kind of horror movie that could theoretically have been made at the era in which it’s set because it captures the worldview of its characters so authentically, and while The Lighthouse certainly goes buckwild in a way horror films didn’t quite go, the aesthetics absolutely nail the throwback vibe.

With his latest film, The Northman, which he co-wrote with Sjón, he takes those sensibilities to the big budget world. With a reported budget upwards of $90 million dollars, and despite Eggers himself saying in an interview that he was disappointed by the studio interference during post-production, The Northman absolutely, 100% feels like a Robert Eggers joint through and through, with really little to no sign of anything being shoehorned in for mass appeal or any other attempts at stifling his creativity and vision.

It’s not like there would be much to meddle with anyway, the story itself if very straightforward. Inspired by the Scandinavian legend of Amleth, which itself went on to be the inspiration of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the film follows Amleth (Alexander Skarsgård), a prince who has been forced out of his kingdom as a child, assumed dead, following the murder of his father, King Aurvandill (Ethan Hawke), by his uncle Fjölnir (Claes Bang), who took over the kingdom, and took in Aurvandill’s wife, Queen Gudrún (Nicole Kidman), for himself. After being raised by a group of Vikings, he finds an opportunity to finally take his revenge.

To put it bluntly, The Northman is absolutely awesome, both in the sense that it just plain rules in nearly every regard, and in the sense that it is a genuinely awe-inspiring piece of work. It’s so rare that we get to see this distinct of a vision get this vast of a playground to play in. The money is definitely put to good use. The costumes, the sets, the effects, both practical and CG, the makeup, the use of locations, it all comes together wonderfully, and it paints a picture that’s is as much beautiful as it is wildly brutal.

I don’t think it should come as too big of a surprise that Eggers proves to be one hell of an action filmmaker, as it seems like any filmmaker who had their start in horror usually turns out great when it comes to making action (see Sam Raimi, James Wan, Peter Jackson, just to name a few). Horror requires the ability to create a sense of place, to build tension, stage scares, and of course, depending on the kind of horror it is, create some gnarly imagery – all skill that translate well when it comes to action. The fights in this are well stages, choreographed impressively, deliver some really gruesome kills, and they feel heavy and exhausting, you practically feel it in your gut.

Of course, where the film really makes its strongest impression is in the way Eggers brings in all the weird details. He’s the kind of guy who obviously puts in an intimidating amount of research into everything he’s doing because the film is full of details that most films would take time out to explain, and here, it might be there for a minute of screen time, and you either grasp it or you don’t. I don’t know for sure how authentic it all is to the era, but it certainly feels like it, and I love how the film allows you to either take a lot of the more fantastical flourishes as either figments of our lead’s demented mind, or as the film’s way of presenting the Norse lore as the way things are in the world, both of which are perfectly valid interpretations.

The film also presents a very historically honest portrayal of the characters that we follow here. Unlike most revenge tales, Eggers doesn’t go out of his way to make the lead likable. He’s like a angry and hungry animal, just looking to feast. And not only that, it starts off by showing that he associates with people who are about as bad as the people he is taking revenge against. The film doesn’t bother in trying to separate the people in this into clear good guys and bad guys, you’re basically watching one group of slavers fight against other slavers. The modern moral compass is not present, which is surely going to make some uncomfortable, but it makes the storytelling feel more honest than most stories like this, and I appreciate that.

The actors all deliver here. Skarsgård is an absolute beast, putting up a strong physical performance that is reduced to only a few animal instincts, while pushing-and-pulling with finding his humanity. Hawke obviously doesn’t last long, but he certainly makes a strong impression with his little screen time, same as Willem Dafoe, who plays Heimir, a court jester of sorts. Kidman is mostly sidelined, with purpose, but gets an incredible scene that definitely made a mark on the audience I was with. Claes Bang is also terrific, adding dimension to a character that could easily come across as simplistic. Anya Taylor-Joy plays Olga, a Slavic sorceress, and she’s just born to play roles like this. She just looks like someone who is not totally of the normal, human world. Everyone is great here.

The Northman is a film that had me from frame one, and never let me out of its grasp until the very end. I could have easily waited for the next show to start, and watch it all over again. It’s a film that goes so hard, and in multiple respects, it’s so unapologetically dorky with all the historical and mythological details while at the same time being a hyper violent action epic that goes for some of the most visceral and coolest shots possible. You would almost expect it to feel unwieldy, balancing the slow and ponderous with the bombast and outrageous action, but it works! It works because it’s smart about how it tells its story, and it offers a subtle yet very critical eye at how these stories are usually told. It’s really subversive in that way, it’s just not in your face about it. It’s immersive filmmaking at its finest, and I could watch hundreds of these. Though, given the way things are with most adult oriented fare, this probably won’t do well at the box office, and we won’t see something like this for a long while, which is a shame. So, I’ll just have to settle with just seeing this hundreds of times, which I’ll be totally fine with as well.

The Northman is now out in theaters.