Viking Watch: The Northman (2022)

Watched:  01/14/2024

Format:  Disc

Viewing:  Second

Director:  Robert Eggers

A long while back now, I picked up the 4K of Eggers' The Northman (2022) after liking it quite a lot on a first viewing, and knowing that it deserved a second viewing.  And since Jamie had actually liked Noferatu, a movie I wasn't even going to take her to, she voted for The Northman.*

I re-read my post from May of 2023, and I think I agree with myself here.

SPOILERS

I can say confidently that I am very glad I rewatched the film, especially when you aren't walking in blind as you start to realize "oh, wait... is this some imagined proto-Hamlet?"  And, indeed, go Google "Amleth" because, boy, while I knew Shakespeare didn't really come up with original stories, was I surprised to find out about the many versions of Hamlet existed story prior to Billy Shakes putting it down.

So, yeah, pulling out the decayed head of Willem Defoe (a man of infinite jest) there mid-film sure hits different when you've been employing your high school "compare and contrast" skills. 

Of course, the film isn't just mucking about with Shakespeare plot points, it's leaning hard into Norse mythology pulled from the Eddas.  The meaning of Bjork's witch character has more meaning, as does all the animal imagery in the film, with a bit more knowledge of our Norse forebears and mythological pals.

I didn't really talk about the acting in my prior write-up.  I don't think what they're doing is to everyone's taste, but I dug the "this movie goes to 11" style of delivery.  Call me a sap, but when Anya Taylor-Joy realizes her lover is swimming off to his death, that hits hard for me.  It's all heightened and nuts and I dug it.  

And, frankly, the end of Revenge of the Sith could have learned from this movie's final fight.

There are more FX in this film than I previously acknowledged, but used very particularly, leaving the vast majority of the film at least looking like practical sets (if you are looking at a volcano, I assume that is CG).

I do find what Eggers has been up to here, as well as in Nosferatu and The Witch to be very interesting, if not exciting.  He's not exactly tearing these stories down to their bare bones, but he is going back and looking at the first versions of stories and trying to make those in a modern medium.  Yes, we DO need a new Hamlet for the big screen, but we also can blow right past that and look at the old texts and stories and see what made this tick originally.

Anyway, it's a second viewing, and I don't want to carry on too much, but it seems like Jamie actually liked it.  Who knew?

It may have been the shirtless, sweaty Skarsgard that did it. 

*we'll watch Marnie soon, my next Hitchcock movie lined up