“The Northman” (2022) starring Alexander Skarsgård, Nicole Kidman & Claes Bang / Z-View

The Northman (2o22)

Director:  Robert Eggers

Screenplay:  Sjón, Robert Eggers

Stars:  Alexander Skarsgård, Nicole Kidman, Claes Bang, Ethan Hawke, Anya Taylor-Joy and Willem Dafoe.

Tagline:  Conquer your fate.

The Plot…

Amleth (Skarsgård) is a boy destined to become King.  That changes when Amleth’s father, King Aurvandil War-Raven (Hawke) is brutally murdered.  Amleth watches in shock as his Uncle, Fjölnir (Bang) kills his father!  As Fjölnir carries Amleth’s mother (Kidman) away, he orders his men to find and kill Amleth.  Amleth escapes and vows to avenge his father and mother…

Years later Amleth has grown into a strong Viking warrior and is now ready to take his vengeance.

Thoughts (Beware of spoilers)…

The Northman‘s trailer led me to believe it would be a great adventure/revenge film with a little Viking mythology thrown in.  It turned out to be an interesting adventure/revenge film with quite a bit of Viking mythology.  There’s stuff like interactions with a Seeress and he-witch, prophetic dreams, rescue from chains by ravens, and a Valkyrie from Valhalla.  For me, a little of that goes a long way.

Alexander Skarsgård makes a scary, believable Viking… especially in full blown warrior mode.  Ethan Hawke’s role could best be described as a cameo.  A small amount of screen time, but his character’s death sets everything in motion.  Then again, if Ethan Hawke’s screen time amounts to a cameo, I’m not sure what you’d call Willem Dafoe’s role as a fool.  Claes Bang and Nicole Kidman make worthy villains, but are they truly the “bad guys”?

One of the interesting aspects is that for the whole movie, Amleth wants to avenge his mother and father.  He sees his father brutally murdered and his mother carried off by his father’s killer.  When Amleth, as an adult, meets his mother we learn that she was once a slave; that Amleth’s father raped and forced her into marriage.  Further it was she who convinced Fjölnir to kill her husband and take her away,  She wasn’t screaming in fear as Fjölnir carried her off, she was laughing!  Amleth’s father wasn’t the great man he (and we) had been led to believe!  So is it heroic when Amleth kills his mother and her son by Fjölnir?  And when Fjölnir learns of their deaths, and challenges Amleth to battle, isn’t Fjölnir as much of a hero as Amleth?  Just some things to think about…

The Northman earns 3 of 5 stars.