They say never let the truth get in the way of telling a good story. Perhaps with The Viking Queen, some truth ought to have been thrust in the way of this story, least then it may have been more exciting. The film is not based on any actual historical events, just loosely, or shall we say "inspired" by history.
Problem is, the fiction concocted by the writers isn't compelling enough to justify the abandonment of history. That said, the movie is watchable as a swords and sandals type soap opera romp. Certainly looks impressive, given its limited budget. It has some good sets, costumes and the photography was quite nice.A couple of trivia notes: This film was One-and-Done for its star Carita, a Finnish model, who, it seems, wasn't much impressed with the glamor of filmmaking and went straight back to modeling afterwards, never to return. Also, there's supposedly a famous goof in this film: an extra, dressed as a Roman soldier, is seen wearing a wristwatch! However, after just watching the movie and looking out for this goof, I couldn't spot it anywhere. So I suspect this could be a myth itself, created to add an aura of infamy to this otherwise forgotten film. As they say, Never let the truth get in the way of telling a good story, eh?
March 15, 2009
