The Northman

Alexander Skarsgard in The Northman
Robert Eggers' The Northman is an action filled epic that luridly conveys the brutality of the Vikings. Loosely based on Hamlet, the film boasts impressive historic verisimilitude and a sterling cast. Eggers is successful in his attempts to evoke Norse spirituality and the Viking mindset. The sparse dialogue skirts the ridiculousness found in some medieval era film.

However, as with Eggers previous films The Witch and The Lighthouse, I found the core of The Northman to be a bit hollow. The film is an impressive technical achievement, but, beneath the gory spectacle, it is yet another revenge tale culminating in a duel to the death. It ain't Andrei Rublev, Marketa Lazarova or Valhalla Rising, folks. I was never bored and would certainly recommend the strong of stomach to see the film in the theater, but The Northman is a lot of sound and fury signifying little.

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