The Northman: Robert Eggers’ Spectacular yet Uninspired Viking Epic
The Northman, Robert Eggers’ 2022 Viking epic based on Shakespeare’s Hamlet, had been advertised as his most expensive project yet. Given by its lavish production and gargantuan scale, I have zero doubts that Eggers’ take on the classic revenge tale is, to this day, the most resources he’d ever had in making a feature length film. Oh what I would give to be able to see it on the big screen. What a spectacle it must be. Eggers is close to being my favorite director working today, but his latest outing fell just short of my expectations. I found the screenplay to be rather… uninspired at times.
From a technical standpoint yes this film is practically flawless. I’m happy to report that the $70 million was undoubtedly put to amazing use. The camerawork is astounding, from the long tracking shots in the most intense and action-packed fight sequences where the camera just refuses to cut, to the use of wide angles to capture the breathtaking landscapes of Northern Europe. The stark, gray color palette gives the film its moody and dramatic look. The choreography, framing, and blocking during these long takes especially in the beginning of the film is nothing less than impeccable, even theatrical at some points. I cannot overstate how much I adored the production design. The sets and everything, especially during some of the rituals, are next-level impressive. The sound is just fantastic — I used my trusty desktop speakers and subwoofer combination — and every single movement, every twitch of the muscle, every clash of the blade, and every decibel of Alexander Skarsgard’s screams penetrated my ears in ways that I couldn’t have expected. But a pair of desktop speakers can only do so much, and this was the main reason why my experience was hindered a significant amount.
As talented as Robert Eggers is, I found the movie to be rather unremarkable from a storytelling perspective. Strip away all the expensive looking shots and incredible sound, and all you have is this run of the mill revenge saga that is set in Viking-age Scandinavia. Of course, that’s also one of the main selling points of the film. Yes it’s cool to see Viking culture and Norse mythology being explored in this medium, and the script certainly gives room for the magical elements to surface. As a person who isn’t familiar with Viking history and culture, a lot of these allusions to their mythology and whatnot meant very little to my eyes, but I was nonetheless quite entranced by the aforementioned ritual scenes. They felt mystical, otherworldly, and primal. In the writing department, there was regrettably not much interesting going on. I kept waiting for it to maybe dive into more interesting waters but it never did. Maybe they could have spent more time exploring the conflict between the Nords and the Slavs or the emergence of Christianity in Eastern and Northern Europe instead of merely glazing over the subjects. I also thought that this would be more of an adventure flick than it actually is, which is true for the first 1/3 of the film. After that point though, we basically spend the rest of the runtime just in one, singular place, which felt a little tedious.
As a tale of revenge The Northman wasn’t particularly satisfying either. This might be a controversial take but I think that Amleth lacked a certain edge that would make him a more interesting character for my liking. Add more personality to him instead of just letting him be this angry, shouting man. Like Nicolas Cage’s character from Mandy for example, you could feel the torment and grief and anger and anguish that he goes through in the film. Even when confronted with an unprecedented reveal that turns our protagonist’s goals beliefs motivations on their heads, the film failed to convey a sense of despair from a crisis of identity of sorts that would give this character more depth, and take him over the ‘edge’. I wanted more vulnerability in this character, is what I’m trying to say.
Some of the performances were noteworthy, predictably I enjoyed Willem Dafoe and Nicole Kidman the most if I had to pick. Alexander Skarsgard was insanely physical, and credit has to be given to him for getting super lean and ripped, but sometimes his acting was a little too one dimensional. I also didn’t really believe the romance that was supposedly blossoming between him and Anya Taylor Joy’s character.
In terms of brutality, the film unexpectedly left quite a bit to be desired. I was expecting more because that aspect of the film had been the talk of the town so to speak, and people seemed to be really shocked at how violent the film was. Honestly speaking though, I have seen worse deaths and gore even from other works like Game of Thrones, for example. A lot of the violence is actually hidden from the viewer’s eyes, and in some scenes we only see the aftermath without actually seeing the act, while in some others, the camera closes up on a character’s face so the violence is again, away from the viewer’s POV.
Robert Eggers is without a doubt an infinitely talented filmmaker, as proven by his resume of visionary and groundbreaking horror films. His artistic vision is unique and bold, and giving him this much freedom and resources to do whatever he wants was an intriguing experiment, but I can’t help but think that he’s made so much better films with significantly less resources. I’m not holding out on my expectations for his future work though, even if he is again, blessed with the creative freedom he had for The Northman.
