(2013. dir: Farren Blackburn) I always get my hopes up for Viking movies. Normally, I'm disappointed, and this is no exception. This may have been derived from a computer game; if not, it ought to have been that instead. It's got the "motley group on important quest" picaresque format, and revels in its violence (very badly edited, as is the absurd preference these days).
It's also extraordinarily well acted, beginning with the incomparable James Cosmo as the King of the Land at his Death-Time, and Charlie Bewley brings a startlingly light touch and easy grace to his turn as the youngest of the princes, a performance which shines when compared to, say, Sam Worthington in Clash of the Titans or even (my hero-worshipped) Fassbender in Centurion. (And it's all in a sense the same character, right? Strong, handsome hero worthier of our attentions because he's less calcified by his wonderful powers of machismo than are all the other macho guys around him.) Bewley, new to me, apparently learned his craft from the Twilight series, the Vampire Diaries, and Nashville, not a resume I'd have guessed for him, but something obviously worked, because he's got some skills.
The script, certainly not the worst I've ever run up against, still kept taking me back to my high school Senior All-Night, where part of the evening's festivities included a showing of Heavy Metal at the Varsity. I keep thinking that the roots of this movie delve further into that and Frank Frazetta than having anything to do with actual Vikings on English shores. Although, now I think of it, there is too much blather about what crap religion is (both of The Gods and of God) and how superior science is (although you never see any evidence at all of science at work here, only the glories of machismo and how they save the day). If you're not religious, then you still might be offended by the incest, fratricide, homophobia or matricide, but probably not, not if you're part of the targeted demographic (male gaming addicts between the ages of 12 and 19, I reckon). The mother-figure here is cut from the Only God Forgives cloth, except she's more extreme and hysterical. What is it with kids these days and their "evil mom" imagos? ("The same Great Mother who has given us life is speeding us toward extinction, and all in the service to a great mystery which befuddles the conscious mind, terrifies the heart and stirs the soul.” James Hollis, Mythologems.)
It's not the worst Viking movie you'll ever see, as long as your expectations are low. The colours are of the yawningly familiar teal and orange variety, and here's a drinking game for you: see who's the first among you to recognize the scenes lifted straight out of Apocalypse, Now! and Titus Andronicus, or the various pretentions towards replicating the power of Valhalla Rising.
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