Movie Thoughts: The Northman (2022)

• Released: April 1, 2022
  
• Directed by: Robert Eggers
• Running time: 2h 17min
• Rating 3.5/5

Synopsis

A Viking travels to Iceland as a slave in order to get revenge on his uncle for killing his father.

My Thoughts

This one looked interesting to me based on the poster and brief clips I saw of it before, however I never saw it when it first came out in 2022. Now that I did see it. Eh, it's a fine movie. Not much to say about it.

I will say that the poster makes the movie look much bigger and more epic than it really is, with it looking like a Viking against all these ships and people. In reality it's more about Amleth being a slave for 90% of the movie and trying to murder people here and there in order to disrupt his evil uncle's peace. Only really the final battle between him and Fjölnir is kind of epic, the rest of the movie is pretty subdued. Sure there's a few action scenes here and there but I wouldn't exactly say this is an epic movie like the poster makes it seem, sans a few scenes. 

But that doesn't make it a bad movie. You still get a movie about Amleth's revenge quest and it does get pretty gruesome and intense in some scenes, and there's a few interesting characters to boot. While Amleth isn't exactly likable (with him murdering several innocents and enslaving people early in the movie) you still do want to see his quest to kill Fjölnir succeed to an extent. I also liked Olga, who is kind of a witch-type character. I don't think her relationship with Amleth felt very believable or anything, but she was still a good character in her own right.

The final confrontation between Amleth and his uncle was also pretty damn good. The movie does end with Amleth dying, but honestly I think that's a good conclusion to his arc. He's so damn consumed with a need for vengeance that he loses sight of what's really important (his partner and upcoming family) and it costs him his life. Feels like a realistic repercussion for his actions.

I do gotta say I'm not too fond of the writing in the movie on some front. For one, the entire final battle was foretold by several characters to Amleth, leading to it feeling like there is very little free will involved and that he'll end up in this battle against his uncle on the volcano regardless, like an inescapable fate. I personally think it would've been stronger if it had been only Amleth's actions which led to this situation, and not just several prophecies which seem to leave very little wiggle room for free will.

Second, there is a scene (albeit brief) in the film where Amleth literally talks to himself about how he is feeling and what he is going to do. Which just comes across as so forced and like it breaks the "show, don't tell" rule. Especially when the next few scenes show exactly what he was going to do anyways. This scene was just written very messily if you ask me. Especially since it is literally just Amleth talking to himself which he doesn't otherwise do in the film except when repeating his mantras. 

So yeah, pretty good movie, but not perfect. Writing leaves some things to be desired, romance wasn't very convincing and I feel that it would've been stronger the climax wasn't so heavily prophesied. But still a good film regardless, even if it's not very big or epic.