The Northman Review

The Northman is the third film by the writer/director Robert Eggers. This time he made a revenge tale set across the Viking world.

Amleth (Oscar Novak) is the son and heir to King Aurvandill (Ethan Hawke.) After a spiritual rite of passage, Aurvandill is murdered by his brother, Fjölnir (Claes Bang), and Amleth’s mother, Gudrún (Nicole Kidman) is kidnapped. Amleth vows revenge and as an adult (played by Alexander Skarsgård) he gets an opportunity: but he must disguise himself as a slave.

The anticipation for The Northman was high. Eggers’ reputation is on a high after the critical success of his first two films, and it had a gripping trailer. History fans were particularly excited for The Northman because the Viking Age can be very interesting, and it has been a long time since audiences have seen a historical epic on the big screen. In recent years historical epics had become the preserve of big-budget TV shows and streaming movies (i.e. Outlaw King and The King.)

The Northman had the challenge of standing out because the standard for TV historical epics has increased. Shows like Vikings and Game of Thrones (a fantasy show influenced by Medieval history) had cinematic quality battle scenes and production values. Eggers and his team were able to step up to the challenge.

Eggers started his career as a part of the elevated horror movement, and he brought that experience to The Northman. The film had an art-house sensibility to the film. There was some surreal imagery and elements of the supernatural. Characters experienced visuals, usually under the influence of some substances or suffered from physical distress. Mystic characters spoke of prophecies in which some come true and Amleth was occasionally visited by a raven which was implied was the spirit of his father. It made The Northman a low-key fantasy as much as a historical epic.

In an interview with Little White Lies, Eggers described The Northman as ‘Conan the Barbarian by way of Andrei Rublev.’ He delivered what he said. The Northman does have a lot of Conan the Barbarian’s DNA. Both films have a similar setup where a young boy’s home gets attacked, both became brutal warriors, and went out on missions of vengeance. When I saw the trailer for The Northman I did think it seemed a lot like Conan the Barbarian. The big difference was the presentation since the first Conan was a violent sword-and-sorcery film from the 1980s.

Since Eggers was from a horror background The Northman did have horror imagery. The violence was brutal. A particular horrific image was a hog-tied woman who was about to be sacrificed. Amleth’s plan against his uncle was psychological: he didn’t just want to kill his uncle, he wanted to destroy him mentally first. It made Amleth act a bit like a horror villain who toys with their victim.

The Northman did have a lot of influences. The film was a retelling of a Scandinavian legend and that legend served as the basis for Hamlet. So, The Northman can be seen as another version of Hamlet. The basic setup was there, a prince’s throne is usurped by his uncle who married his mother. The dialogue had a Shakespearian quality to it, which also showed the influence of the film.

This Shakespearian influence, particularly the revenge storyline, was present throughout the film. Directors like Akira Kurosawa and Mel Gibson were influenced by Shakespeare and The Northman brought back memories of some of their films. Like Braveheart, The Northman had a father and son experience an early betrayal from the film’s villain and both had Shakespearian influence on the dialogue and performances. Two Kurosawa films The Northman reminded me of were Throne of Blood and Yojimbo. The Northman and Throne of Blood both had a supernatural quality to them, whilst like the Sanjuro in Yojimbo, Amleth played mind games as well as being a badass.

The Northman reminded me a little of Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto. Apocalypto was a Mayan historical epic that had some arty touches (i.e. the girl with smallpox.) The raid on the village in the Land of the Rus particularly brought back memories of Apocalypto because in the Mayan film the adults were abducted and sold into slavery. The difference in The Northman showed this story from the raiders’ point of view.

The final influence on The Northman was Arya Stark from Game of Thrones. In Game of Thrones Arya vowed revenge against all the people who betrayed and killed her father and she was always mentioning a list of names. Amleth had a similar journey because revenge drove him and he said to himself ‘I will avenge you, Father. I will save you, Mother. I will kill you, Fjölnir.’

The revenge story gave The Northman a timeless quality. The story of a man getting revenge against his uncle could have earlier been transferred to Ancient Rome, Shogun Japan, the Wild West, or in a space opera. Even people who do not know much about the Viking age could enjoy The Northman’s narrative.

Another way The Northman stood out was the cinematography. Eggers and his cinematographer, Jarin Blaschke were clearly influenced by The Revenant. The film had a dark and washed-out look, especially doing the early scenes in Aurvandill’s kingdom. This was due to the wintery landscapes, violence and the long takes when Fjölnir’s forces attacked. This style of cinematography was particularly impactful during the assault on the Slavic town, the fight with the Draugr, and the duel by the lake of fire. It was striking and wonderful to behold and helped The Northman be a cinematic adventure.

The Northman was made on a budget of $75 million, making it Eggers’ biggest scale film so far. It had great production values with great costumes, and sets and there were exquisite-looking scenes, like the duel by the volcano. However, The Northman was not a film filled with big battles and action sequences like Braveheart or Gladiator. Most of the film took place at Fjölnir’s farm in Iceland and many of the fights were one-on-one duels. The battles of the film were frontloaded and they only featured a few dozen men, not hundreds or thousands of people.

The Northman had a great cast. It will easily be seen as one of Skarsgård’s best films. He was great at being a feral beast of a man, a muscular man filled and fuelled by hate. He was an imposing man but he was also a cunning person because he was more than just muscle. It added to the Conan comparisons. Bang as Fjölnir was notable. Fjölnir was clearly the villain in Amleth’s eye but he was also shown to be more of a complex character when he was with his sons. He gave them important lessons about leadership, particularly regarding the treatment of slaves.

Eggers reteamed with his Witch star Anya Taylor-Joy. In this film Taylor-Joy played Olga, a Slavic mystic who became an ally of Amleth. However, there was a question about what her agenda was and there was a level of mistruth regarding her role.

During the film there was a shocking twist that turned The Northman on its head. It was one of the most effective twists I have seen in a film for a long time.

The Northman was Eggers’ most mainstream offering so far, and he delivered a compelling and entertaining epic that we don’t see enough of.