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A bloody revenge epic and breathtaking visual marvel, The Northman finds filmmaker Robert Eggers expanding his scope without sacrificing any of his signature style. Read critic reviews
You might be frustrated if you're expecting something straightforward, but viewers looking for an artsy -- and bloody -- Viking revenge story won't be disappointed by The Northman. Read audience reviews
Watch The Northman with a subscription on Peacock, rent on Amazon Prime Video, Vudu, Apple TV, or buy on Amazon Prime Video, Vudu, Apple TV.
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The Northman is an epic revenge thriller, that explores how far a Viking prince will go to seek justice for his murdered father.
Rating: R (Some Sexual Content|Nudity|Strong Bloody Violence)
Genre: Adventure, Action, Mystery & thriller
Original Language: English
Director: Robert Eggers
Producer: Robert Eggers, Mark Huffam, Lars Knudsen, Arnon Milchan, Alexander Skarsgård
Writer: Sjón, Robert Eggers
Release Date (Theaters): wide
Release Date (Streaming):
Box Office (Gross USA): $34.2M
Runtime:
Distributor: Focus Features
Production Co: Square Peg, New Regency, Perfect World Pictures, Focus Features, Universal Pictures
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital, Dolby Atmos
Consider writer/director Robert Eggers' bloody Viking revenge movie as a companion piece to 2021's The Green Knight. Both movies take mythical, supernatural-aided tales of heroics and medieval masculinity and feed into the spectacle while also cleaving the legend to make way for a sense of humanity. We follow Amleth (Alexander Skatsgard) who is a displaced prince who has sworn to kill his treacherous uncle and rescue his mother (Nicole Kidman). It's a tale so old that it inspired Shakespeare's Hamlet, though that play could have benefited from a climax involving two hulking naked men dueling to the death atop an exploding volcano. The Northman reminds me a lot of Mel Gibson's Apocalypto, a movie I described back in the day as "an art film for jocks." It's immersive and impressive down to the exact detail, and it doesn't shirk on the blood and combat. It's also unmistakably the work of Eggers, a very precise and idiosyncratic indie director whose prior movies felt like stylistic dares. The camerawork is often long with single takes, making all the visual arrangements and coordination that much more impressive. It's staggering that a studio provided Eggers with $90 million to go make his version of Conan the Barbarian. At a lugubrious 140 minutes, there's enough sticky carnage to satiate fans of brutish medieval action movies, but I appreciated how Eggers keeps his story purposely streamlined and simplistic until a few keen reveals force the audience and protagonist to re-examine the assumptions and fleeting honor of vengeance in this harsh, unfair environment of men out-killing one another. It's a movie that provides the red meat and then makes you question whether you might want to go vegan. There's more that can be unpacked but I wish Eggers had cut back at points. This is a slow movie, which does contribute to its mood and atmosphere, but I also wish Eggers had gotten to some of his plot points with a bit more haste and vigor. The Northman is transporting and bold and also more than a bit bloated. You could laugh at some of its over-the-top machismo but I feel like Eggers is inviting criticism of that very machismo, so enjoy the movie on one level where it indulges all the Old World violence, and then enjoy it on another level where it subverts and castigates the same Old World violence. Or you could just watch for the glistening muscles, famous faces, bad accents, bad wigs, guttural score, and weird imagery. Nate's Grade: B
Eggers finally fulfills the promise he showed in his earlier work. A gorgeous and bold epic that both feels old fashioned (possibly ancient even) and excitingly new.
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