Severed Ways: The Norse Discovery of America Reviews

Jeffrey Gantz
Boston Phoenix
November 5, 2009
More or less what you'd have if Ingmar Bergman had shot The Blair Witch Project...
Full Review | Original Score: 2/4
Christopher Long
Movie Metropolis
August 19, 2009
Severed Ways exudes a specific and unique vibe, and youre either going to get into it or youre not...If youre willing to just stop, look and listen, you might have a good time.
Full Review | Original Score: 8/10
Top Critic
Kevin Thomas
Los Angeles Times
July 20, 2009
Stone's admirable and persuasive evocation is unfortunately marred by his self-defeating resort to flurries of claustrophobic, fragmented hand-held shots that obfuscate just about every crucial plot development in the film.
Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5
Fr. Chris Carpenter
Movie Dearest
July 19, 2009
One of the more beautifully shot films of the year...so long as the camera is standing still.
Full Review | Original Score: C+
Top Critic
Amy Nicholson
Boxoffice Magazine
July 17, 2009
That director Tony Stone concocted and nearly pulls off this gruff, truly indie flick, maintaining our interest -- mostly -- through slow, wordless curio makes him a director to watch.
Original Score: 3.5/5
Top Critic
Ron Stringer
L.A. Weekly
July 16, 2009
A must-see.
Full Review
Tony Medley
tonymedley.com
July 16, 2009
Captivating locations can't overcome deplorable scenes of defecation and actually killing a hen onscreen. This is so slow and lacking in pace it tries one's patience.
Full Review | Original Score: 5/10
David Noh
Film Journal International
March 17, 2009
Gorgeous cinematography of fabulous wilderness landscape cannot compensate for the self-indulgence and viewer-alienating technique of a clueless rookie director/writer/actor.
Full Review
Avi Offer
NYC Movie Guru
March 15, 2009
A pretentious, tedious, jarring and grueling test of a viewer's patience.
Full Review | Original Score: 3.0/10
Top Critic
V.A. Musetto
New York Post
March 13, 2009
Severed Ways is one of the oddest movies I've seen in a while -- and that's a good thing.
Full Review | Original Score: 3/4
Top Critic
Manohla Dargis
New York Times
March 13, 2009
If nothing else, Mr. Stone, from his tangled hair to dirty feet, has taken himself and his story into the beyond -- way, way beyond.
Original Score: 3/5
Top Critic
Wesley Morris
Boston Globe
March 13, 2009
Full Review | Original Score: 3/4
Top Critic
Joshua Rothkopf
Time Out
March 11, 2009
Largely lacking in dialogue (if not unintentional hilarity), this intensely personal project is proof positive that Bill and Ted grew up to become filmmakers.
Original Score: 2/6
Top Critic
Nicolas Rapold
Village Voice
March 10, 2009
The spectacle of two dudes mucking about in the primal forest becomes tedious...
Full Review
Joseph Jon Lanthier
Slant Magazine
March 10, 2009
Seems more informed by low-budget History Channel programs and the proto-metal Norse lore of Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song."
Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com
March 10, 2009
Minimalist independent cinema doesn't get much more low fidelity than debut writer/director Tony Stone's garish vision of 11th century Vikings discovering North America.
Full Review | Original Score: D-
Harvey S. Karten
Compuserve
March 9, 2009
If all Vikings acted like the two principals in this glacial-paced film, Valhalla must be an empty, desolate place.
Full Review | Original Score: C
Prairie Miller
NewsBlaze
March 7, 2009
Minimalist retro-dialogue in Old Norse, a closeup of human defecation in real time, choked chickens for dinner, and man rape of a dumb blonde macho Viking dragged off by a native woman warrior in heat to her tepee where she, well, makes him her squaw.
Full Review
Top Critic
Peter Debruge
Variety
March 4, 2009
If only Stone's elliptical storytelling style were as lucid as his eye for the environment.
Full Review