In an era where the Marvel Cinematic Universe and other giants of intellectual property reign supreme over Hollywood, one cannot help but feel excited about movies like “The Northman,” a big-budget epic with a star-studded cast directed by auteur Robert Eggers. Even when such films fall short of expectations, their mere existence is a miracle in a world where any movie that costs over $50 million needs to rip its story or worldbuilding from an established comic book, novel or big-screen series.
Eggers’ original story, which he co-wrote with the Icelandic poet and screenwriter Sjón, is a Hamlet-adjacent revenge tale about a Viking prince named Amleth (see, even the protagonists’ names are similar!). The prince in question is played by the chiseled Swede Alexander Skarsgård, who seeks to carry out an oath of vengeance against his uncle Fjölnir (Claes Bang) for killing his father King Aurvandill (Ethan Hawke) and stealing his kingdom. Eggers started production for “The Northman” in the wake of his critically acclaimed indie film “The Lighthouse,” which starred Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe. Eggers’ third film marks the second collaboration between him and Dafoe, who makes a cameo as a Viking shaman. Given “The Lighthouse’s” intimate setting, a sweeping Viking epic presented an entirely different challenge for Eggers and his crew. They were given at least $70 million to work with—$55 million more than his previous two features combined—allowing Eggers to spend considerable time and money putting his extensive research on Viking culture to use in this film, refining every detail of the clothes, boats and buildings.
For the most part, Eggers and co. succeed in delivering a captivating original story that thrives in its filmmaking and strong lead performances. Director of Photography Jarin Blaschke does an excellent job of making the viewer feel the texture of medieval Scandinavia with his camera work, capturing the mountains of Iceland and snowy, forested Norway with stunning establishing shots (filmed mostly in Ireland). In one breathtaking action sequence, Blaschke and Eggers employ a slick continuous take that follows Amleth as he scales a fortress wall with nothing but a battle-ax, before cutting down enemy after enemy in brutal fashion. Yet, Eggers does not aggrandize Viking culture for the sake of the film’s visuals. The story takes place before 1000 AD, so Eggers does not sugarcoat that Viking culture was still quite primitive and even the kingdoms of Aurvandill and Fjölnir appear quite small in scale.
In fact, some of Eggers’ most interesting scenes focus on their pagan rituals, one of which involves a spiritual transformation from man to beast, a transformation that Skarsgård embodies throughout the film. Skarsgård gives a tremendous physical performance as a hulking Viking driven by his primal need for revenge. Every muscle in his back and chest ripples with the swing of a sword or ax, symbolic of not only the hours he spent training for this role but also his dedication to the project as a credited producer and close collaborator of Eggers in the development process. Nicole Kidman, however, playing Queen Gudrún, wins this film from a performance perspective. Kidman’s performance is borderline haunting and subverts the tropes of the widowed queen archetype. Her character keeps the narrative from becoming overly predictable given its classic revenge tale premise.
Anya Taylor-Joy continues her run of breakout performances as the sorceress Olga of the Birch Forest, Amleth’s confidante and lover. Olga instills the film with some of the magical realism elements that clearly interest the director, who also explored the border between reality and magic in “The Witch,” which also starred Taylor-Joy and marked her first feature film appearance. She and Skarsgård share solid chemistry, but the film’s script doesn’t do the actors any favors in communicating that chemistry to a modern English-speaking audience. Part of Eggers’ dedication to research also means that he writes his screenplays with the most accurate language to the time period that he can imitate. So while the film does not take place entirely in Old Norse (though some characters do speak a few lines of Old Norse or Old Slavic during Norse and magical rituals), the script feels closer to Middle English or a translation of an ancient Greek epic.
In that sense, the script and the film as a whole, for all its successes, have a laborious quality. That’s not to say the pacing is too slow or that the plot does not entertain, but it’s not an effortless watch. With his filmmaking, Eggers clearly wants to communicate the depth of his newfound knowledge and the physical lengths his crew went through in order to produce this film—there’s an atmospheric heaviness in every shot. Amleth’s breathless desire for revenge seemingly mirrors his director’s need to communicate this grand, dark tale. Eggers’ grim dedication to the craft works both ways. On the one hand, the film’s heftiness, both ideologically and visually, might turn away viewers who simply wanted a fun Viking action flick. His thoroughness also makes him one of the most fascinating directors in Hollywood. His relentless pursuit of excellence leads to the creation of films that are, if nothing else, excellently crafted.
However “The Northman” performs in this wildly unpredictable, Disney-dominated, post-Covid box office, it should not dim its visual accomplishment. This film demands an in-theater viewing experience to truly appreciate its scope, and while it might struggle to recoup its significant budget, it could certainly garner Oscar nods, particularly in categories such as cinematography, production design and sound. “The Northman” is more than worthy of the effort it required, and the effort it certainly took to create.