They didn't even bother to make the resemblance any less obvious in the protagonist's name "Amleth."
It is with quite a heavy heart that I have to say this, given how much I admire Alexander Skarsgaard and the Viking genre. "The Northman" starts out as a decidedly Shakespearean tale and quickly segues into a long-winded, cheesy, unnerving two-hour show of the macabre, little more than a screen adaptation of the video game "Assassin's Creed: Valhalla."
The vendetta-driven prince remembers his lost family and kingdom while on a Viking raid in Russia, takes off to Iceland under the guise of a slave and tries to go for his uncle's head. Instead, Amleth spends the whole movie skulking about and keeping his head low while playing cat-and-mouse mind games with his captors, which are not entertaining to watch in the slightest.
Meanwhile, we are treated to scene after boring scene of men with an unsavory excess of macho and bravado slugging it out, rattling sabers and bashing each other's heads in. To say nothing of the asinine, esoteric script full of obnoxious medieval speak and unsettling religious and superstitious rituals.
I had definitely expected better, and I'm delighted that I have waited for the movie to land on a streaming service.
And if you were hoping for a longboatload of beautiful Scandinavian scenery, that's sadly yet another disappointment you'll be in for.
It is with quite a heavy heart that I have to say this, given how much I admire Alexander Skarsgaard and the Viking genre. "The Northman" starts out as a decidedly Shakespearean tale and quickly segues into a long-winded, cheesy, unnerving two-hour show of the macabre, little more than a screen adaptation of the video game "Assassin's Creed: Valhalla."
The vendetta-driven prince remembers his lost family and kingdom while on a Viking raid in Russia, takes off to Iceland under the guise of a slave and tries to go for his uncle's head. Instead, Amleth spends the whole movie skulking about and keeping his head low while playing cat-and-mouse mind games with his captors, which are not entertaining to watch in the slightest.
Meanwhile, we are treated to scene after boring scene of men with an unsavory excess of macho and bravado slugging it out, rattling sabers and bashing each other's heads in. To say nothing of the asinine, esoteric script full of obnoxious medieval speak and unsettling religious and superstitious rituals.
I had definitely expected better, and I'm delighted that I have waited for the movie to land on a streaming service.
And if you were hoping for a longboatload of beautiful Scandinavian scenery, that's sadly yet another disappointment you'll be in for.