An epic Viking revenge story based on the same Scandinavian folktale that inspired Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”, The Northman promises to bring Robert Eggers’ filmmaking onto a mainstream cultural stage. The writer-director’s third feature film – behind his excellent horror The Witch and deliciously unhinged The Lighthouse – also happens to be his first big-budget studio film. And in contrary ways, it shows.
On the one hand, the budget allows Eggers to paint his vision on a far broader canvas than has previously been possible. The film’s rigorously choreographed action sequences, for instance, could never have been enacted on any smaller a project. Yet on the other hand, The Northman often ends up too preoccupied by its own scale to reach the standard set by Eggers’ earlier works. It is so focused on its mythological grandeur that it forgets the most basic principles of storytelling: to let the human element light the narrative’s way.
Sharing writing duties with Icelandic novelist and poet Sjón – who also helped pen the Noomi Rapace-starring Lamb – the auteur’s latest tells the tale of the exiled Prince Amleth (Alexander Skarsgård), the son of a king (Ethan Hawke) who was once shot down and beheaded by his own brother (a phenomenal Claes Bang). After two decades away from his home, Amleth lives as a Viking, content to raid villages and live off the spoils. That is until he meets the seeress Olga (Anya Taylor-Joy), who reminds him of the vow he made long ago: to avenge his father, rescue his mother (Nicole Kidman), and to take back his land.
Skarsgård deserves every praise for his savage, animalistic portrayal of the tortured prince hellbent on vengeance. Yet the story is too rigid to allow for emotional depth beyond the character’s rage, which means the quieter scenes leave Skarsgård’s performance feeling wooden. Likewise, Taylor-Joy is underserved by a script that doesn’t afford Olga much texture beyond her role as a mysterious love interest for the hulking protagonist. However, and despite clear difficulties with the accent, it’s Kidman who’s handed a role far meatier than the trailer suggested and which she sinks her teeth into with great relish.
Meanwhile, Eggers’ typically stunning cinematography, formal mastery, and reverence for historical detail is fully realised thanks to his re-teaming with cinematographer Jarin Blaschke and editor Louise Ford. But even with its pitiless, primeval landscapes, feverish action, and beautiful renditions of Norse beliefs, there’s something inexplicably flat about The Northman. While both The Witch and The Lighthouse revelled in the liminal space between the otherworldly and the everyday, The Northman’s place at the intersection of mythology and brutally tactile Viking history is like a battlefield for two conflicting identities, rather than the foundations for richer, harmonious whole; the sometimes-awkward editing and often-static narrative is clear evidence of that.
For all its grandiose beauty, The Northman substitutes heart for mechanical pacing. Instead of being compelled forward by Amleth’s inner life, the film is pulled along to the beat of his obsessive refrain: “I will avenge you, father. I will save you, mother. I will kill you, Fjölnir.” It functions just fine in moving things along, but there’s no soul to be found there and very little to emotionally connect to.
The Northman can’t help but feel like a wild stallion being reluctantly reined in. Even with all its screaming and grunting, the film is subdued; a retold revenge story with strong pillars but no inner life, that suggests a spinning moral compass yet backs down from anything too provocative (and impressively, succeeds in making an incestuous flirtation disappointingly tame). In the end, The Northman offers spectacle over story and heart, despite the distinct sense that it’s trying – and failing – to do both.
The Northman releases in cinemas April 15th. Check out the trailer here.
