*SPOILERS*
A bold claim, being that the original Conan the Barbarian sat on this spot for years. However, it has been dethroned to my second favorite. Because The Northman isn't just a sword and sorcery film-it is a film that anyone who loves cinema and epic storytelling should see.
From its sprawling cinematography-showing a very beautiful but dark landscape. A place that looks inviting, but also horrific. They're some gorgeous shots of stars at night for instance, or the grassy green lands. Speaking of scenery, the way the entire film is shot is mesmerizing. Every battle scene was so well choreographed, never skipping out on show the raw brutality of violence.
This film has horror movie level violence, but it makes sense. We're talking about Vikings and vengeance. We're talking about a time when weapons were swords, rocks, giant sticks, sometimes even biting. The violence however isn't what made it.
These long battle scenes would go on for a few minutes, long takes with no cuts to give us a break or a new angle-we are forced to watch the wars in real time. The camera would follow Alexander Skarsgård as he was acting his heart out. Sweating, yelling, spitting-showing real grit that most Viking movies steer away from (Netflix's Vikings: Valhalla is guilty of this...even though I do like the show) Alexander-or Amleth as he's called in the film, will truly go down as one of the best (if not the best) barbarian performance ever put to film.
The story is not simple. While most 'fantasy' movies are very much black and white, good vs. evil-this story takes its beats from Shakespeare's Hamlet. So, there's lots of family dynamics, a lot of betrayal and heavy dialogue scenes, all spoken in sorta 'old English' but that only makes the film more riveting. A show stealer was Nicole Kidman, playing Amleth's mother-a truly psychotic role and she was mesmerizing. She really shined and was terrifying in her role. Where I think movies like Conan, while entertaining and a movie I love to watch every year or so, don't give you a lot to think about after. I'll be sitting on The Northman for a few weeks.
I did mention this is my favorite 'sword and sorcery' film-I should explain that. No, there's no dragons here or sea creatures. Instead, the magic is inspired by Norse tales. So a lot of 'fate' is involved. There's a huge emphasis on animals being spirit guides, there's witches and black magic. But it's done in a very artful and stylized way-where it's not silly...but FEELS real. There's a scene where Amleth must retrieve a sword from a cavern and fight a draugr. Even that seemed quite eerie and realistic. That scene really reminded me of Robert E. Howard-so of course I liked that. So yeah, this film totally has magic-but it isn't like anything I've seen. It's really done as an art film-no shock since Robert Egger's The Witch is very much an arthouse horror movie. I do think though this is Egger's best film-The Witch being second.
I was mesmerized and so astounded by how amazing this movie is, from its sprawling scenery, influence of grimdark fantasy and Hamlet, I really hope people watch this movie. It's going to inspire my writing for years to come.
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