The Northman — A Review
It could be argued that the single greatest tragedy in western civilization was the fall of the Roman empire. It led to a thousand years of darkness before humanity was able to pick itself up again. These were the thoughts passing through my head as I began to watch The Northman, a movie about Vikings in the Dark Ages. But as I kept watching the movie, I noticed the obvious and the nuanced. The obvious was how tough and resilient these people were which just showed that tough times are just what we needed to prepare us to be a more refined civilization. The more nuanced was how familiar this movie felt. I felt I’d seen this before, somewhere, maybe back in high school English class. But we’ll get back to that.
It’s not often the case these days, that movies elicit such thoughts since we too, have entered the dark ages of cinema where movies are littered with an agenda that gives us terrible plots and character development. I’m looking at you Star Wars.
So it’s refreshing when a movie comes along that just focuses on telling a good story. Even if that story has been told numerous times before. The Northman makes no secret of its inspiration. After all, the main character’s name is Amleth so you know what to expect. At its core, it’s a gory modern retelling of the famous Shakespearean tragedy, Hamlet.
Plot Synopsis
The movie begins with Amleth’s father, played by Ethan Hawke, King Aurvandil War Raven returning from battle (what a most bodacious metal name!). This war weary bad ass comes riding in with respect but the court jester makes fun of his wife’s promiscuity, driving up the tension. But the king cuts through the tension by showing everyone he can man up and take a joke. I appreciate the little lesson here. Today’s society can learn a thing or two here as no one can take a joke lately.
The Queen to her credit, also adds to the tension in the scene by giving the uncle the side eye, giving the viewer another taste of what’s to come. The choice of Nicole Kidman for the role was a wise one as she’s a veteran actress that can deliver a well-rounded performance for complex characters and as we see later on in the movie, she absolutely does not disappoint.
After many years in battle, the King wants to pass the torch on to his son. So, in classic Lion King fashion, he takes him to a Rafiki of sorts for the rite of passage. This is where we’re handed another treat in the form Willem Dafoe who performs the ritual for Father and Son. Dafoe is another veteran actor that takes his craft seriously and simply dominates every scene in every movie he’s ever in.
After passing the torch, Father and Son go out for a stroll in the snow and get ambushed by Uncle Fjolnir who slays the King in a most cowardly fashion. Where have I seen this before? Ah, never mind with originality!
So Amleth runs away vowing to come back and save his mother and take revenge on his uncle. He goes to the faraway land of Rus or modern day Russia. Because if there’s one place that’ll make a man out of you, it’s definitely Dark Ages Russia. The soul crushingly bleak setting helped bulk up Amleth into a big hard warrior, played by Alexander Skarsgard, who was himself bulked up by good old vitamin S (read: steroids).
Here he meets Olga, an Ophelia stand-in played by relative new comer Anya Taylor-Joy. For anyone looking to know how to write a strong female character, look no further. You won’t be seeing Olga throwing around men twice her size like you do in many of today’s movies. No. Olga uses her wits and sheer determination to subdue her captors. Later on in the movie, she devises a scheme that takes out several of her captors and she didn’t even have to lift a finger to do so. What a breath of fresh air this character is.
So Olga is sold off to return to Scandinavia as a slave. Amleth sees this as his opportunity for vengeance and marks himself a slave to get on her boat. Not only that but he jumps into the freezing Baltic water and sneaks onto the boat. What. A. Badass. They sure don’t build them like they used to.
So our big warrior gets sent off to Iceland where we see that killing your brother isn’t viewed as an act of royalty, but as an act of cowardice. Amleth’s Uncle was disgraced and banished to Iceland which is where our big hard warrior gets sent off to.
Olga and Amleth ingratiate themselves into the village and immediately begin enact their plan for vengeance. When Amleth goes in to save his mother, she turns on him and reveals his father’s death was her doing. This enrages Amleth enough to kill her new son and half brother much in the vein of Hamlet, leading the movie into the final act.
Amleth sends off Olga, now pregnant with twins, while he goes off to kill his uncle at the Gates of Hel. Olga goes mad herself not having Amleth which is reminiscent of Hamlet’s betrayal of Ophelia. The final battle is highly reminiscent of Revenge of the Sith, which is actually a good thing. Amleth kills his uncle but dies of his wounds, happy in the knowledge that his bloodline will live on with Olga.
There you go, there’s Hamlet in a nutshell. Err, I mean the Northman.
Conclusion
The Northman is a movie that treats its viewer with respect and shows, rather explains the plot. This act of showing rather than telling is perhaps why audiences seemed to enjoy the film so much and why it reviewed well prior to release. Who knew that when you respect your fans, they actually appreciate it?
While it doesn’t have the intellectual introspection of the original play, it does give everyone involved a chance to show their talents. Robert Eggers, despite having only two indie credits to his name in The Witch and The Lighthouse, was a big risk that paid off in terms of direction and overall feel of the movie. In all three films, Eggers did a fantastic job in setting up the mood and environments. He also shined in getting the most out of his actors. Although, he was working with massive talent.
Alexander Skarsgard has been largely kept to supporting roles throughout his career so it’s nice to see what he can do in a leading role. The Northman was a physically demanding role and portraying a stoic character such as Amleth didn’t make it any easier, but Skarsgard shined here.
Nicole Kidman knocked it out of the ballpark here, playing the ruthless, cunning Queen. She delivered the key betrayal scene so well that the audience in the theater I was in gasped in shock.
Anya Taylor-Joy showed that not every strong female character needs to physically kick someone’s ass to succeed. Ultimately, her portrayal of Olga was a spot on, realistic Ophelia. I’d like to see what else this starlet has in store in her future performances.
Overall, despite being the obvious retelling of Hamlet, The Northman was a worthwhile flick to catch. The direction captured the feel and grit of the Dark Ages in the varied environments of northern Europe. It was very competently shot and was working of a very tightly written script. I suggest giving this one a watch.