"Lords of Chaos" is better than I expected. Jonas Akerlund in the past seemed like a typical music video brat-cum feature filmmaker; ie. his movies were full of gimmicky rubbish effects like "Spun" that works to get the attention of audiences of five minute video clips, but just gets tiresome with a full-length movie. I liked "Small Apartments", though.
"Lords of Chaos" shows that Akerlund has become a capable filmmaker. They say directors become great not by adding, but by taking away, and this one feels gritty and realistic due to the restrained approach he has employed. It doesn't feel like he gets in the way of the actors, which is to the film's benefit, as Rory Culkin is great as Euronymous.
The movie is also, surprisingly, funny. It's not afraid to point out the ridiculousness of this story. These oh-so-evil black metallers were part of some kind of Satanic cult that was bent on taking over the world... and they had to hide the flowers their parents sent them when their pals came over because they weren't evil enough. Sure, they burnt down some churches and even killed a guy, but when Varg went public with this in an interview, turning the lights down, hanging his beloved Swastika on the wall, the reporter almost walked out of the interview, not taking the man seriously - and who could blame him?
The movie culminates in one of the most brutal murder scenes I have seen in a film. This is not a spoiler - you already knew that was how it was going to end. This scene must set some kind of record for the number of stab wounds in a movie scene.
I do have a big problem with the movie, though. And that is the character of Ann-Marit. You knew a movie made in the new millennium telling a story which was really entirely about men couldn't be told without the introduction of a Strong Female Character (TM). You know, the female voice of reason, the only one who understands the poor foolish man, the one he never could have succeeded without, the one he should have listened to.
Only problem with all that garbage is the fact that of course, the character never existed. One could even argue that she couldn't exist. What is such a Strong Female (TM) doing hanging out with a bunch of losers like Mayhem? She had to know they were heading for prison time, at least. The only women attracted to these guys would have been the idiots Varg is shown ploughing through.
It's so lame that every movie has to introduce this lame stock character. With all the other restraint the movie showed, I wish they'd followed through and left her out. Her role is thankfully rather negligible, still allowing the movie to shine.
Lastly, you have to agree that it deserved an honorary Oscar just for casting a Jewish actor in the role of that boring pretend-Nazi puts, Kristian "Varg" Vikernes. If it made him mad (and it did) you can't deny that's a plus.
"Lords of Chaos" shows that Akerlund has become a capable filmmaker. They say directors become great not by adding, but by taking away, and this one feels gritty and realistic due to the restrained approach he has employed. It doesn't feel like he gets in the way of the actors, which is to the film's benefit, as Rory Culkin is great as Euronymous.
The movie is also, surprisingly, funny. It's not afraid to point out the ridiculousness of this story. These oh-so-evil black metallers were part of some kind of Satanic cult that was bent on taking over the world... and they had to hide the flowers their parents sent them when their pals came over because they weren't evil enough. Sure, they burnt down some churches and even killed a guy, but when Varg went public with this in an interview, turning the lights down, hanging his beloved Swastika on the wall, the reporter almost walked out of the interview, not taking the man seriously - and who could blame him?
The movie culminates in one of the most brutal murder scenes I have seen in a film. This is not a spoiler - you already knew that was how it was going to end. This scene must set some kind of record for the number of stab wounds in a movie scene.
I do have a big problem with the movie, though. And that is the character of Ann-Marit. You knew a movie made in the new millennium telling a story which was really entirely about men couldn't be told without the introduction of a Strong Female Character (TM). You know, the female voice of reason, the only one who understands the poor foolish man, the one he never could have succeeded without, the one he should have listened to.
Only problem with all that garbage is the fact that of course, the character never existed. One could even argue that she couldn't exist. What is such a Strong Female (TM) doing hanging out with a bunch of losers like Mayhem? She had to know they were heading for prison time, at least. The only women attracted to these guys would have been the idiots Varg is shown ploughing through.
It's so lame that every movie has to introduce this lame stock character. With all the other restraint the movie showed, I wish they'd followed through and left her out. Her role is thankfully rather negligible, still allowing the movie to shine.
Lastly, you have to agree that it deserved an honorary Oscar just for casting a Jewish actor in the role of that boring pretend-Nazi puts, Kristian "Varg" Vikernes. If it made him mad (and it did) you can't deny that's a plus.