The Northman Review: The Futile Pursuit of Primal Vengeance

Robert Eggers films surely aren't for everyone, with The Witch leaning into a quiet unease instead of cackling crones beside a bubbling cauldron, while The Lighthouse is nearly two hours of Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson descending into a farting madness. His cinematic vision fails to be defined and constantly delivers audiences the unexpected, but with The Northman, he delivers what might be his most grounded and straightforward story thus far, which says a lot of his other films, when this adventure has multiple drug-fueled sequences with body parts being thrust into human cavities for psychedelic visions of a family's history. While The Northman toes the line of hallucinatory visuals and blood-soaked carnage, it's ultimately a reminder of the pointlessness of being driven solely by anger, all wrapped up in enough Nordic landscapes to make Odin proud.

Years after watching his father King Aurvandill (Ethan Hawke) murdered, Amleth (Alexander Skarsgård) sees the opportunity to enact his vengeance once and for all. His path of revenge isn't without its obstacles, with Olga (Anya Taylor-Joy) presenting him with unique opportunities to fulfill his desires, or potentially force him to sacrifice his sole lot in life.

Amleth sticks to a simple vow from the opening scenes of the film: "I will avenge you, father. I will save you, mother. I will kill you, Fjölnir." It's this simple creed that motivates all of the events of the film, with that straightforwardness making the experience accessible to wider audiences. The overall endeavor is sure to feel reminiscent of other contemporary historical epics that are motivated by vengeance, along the lines of Gladiator, Braveheart, or even 300. It's in Eggers' deviations from this directness that the film both finds its victories and suffers its defeats.

From the opening moments of the film, with its smoky volcanoes and grim oceanscapes, Eggers' vision is much more influenced by German expressionism than it is by action spectacle, delivering starkly contrasted images that feel both grounded yet highly stylized. The story structure will surely be familiar, but the mythology being embraced helps the film set itself apart from its peers, as it unfolds at a point in time where the worlds of men and gods have little distinction, with multiple sequences leaning fully into more ethereal exploits. Adding more otherworldliness to the adventure is the unique environments of the film, with the desolate cliffs and valleys of Iceland and Ireland evoking a much more surreal quality visually, offering yet another new perspective on the genre. While contemporary audiences might balk at the notion of gods having walked the Earth, Eggers' depictions of these worlds make this concept feel not only possible, but like a historical fact.

With Eggers also sticking to the simple mantra of "avenge father, save mother, kill Fjölnir," the narrative can stick to the core essence of revenge. Whereas the aforementioned historical epics feature bombastic battles and set pieces, The Northman rarely has more than a few dozen figures involved in any given scene, though most times we only see intimate exchanges between a handful of characters. This reflects the singularly focused mission of Amleth, reminding us of just how much someone sacrifices when they commit themselves to hatred as opposed to attempting to make any sort of peace with one's past.

This devotion to this vengeance helps set the film apart from predecessors in how it trims all the fat from the story, though this devotion does also bring with it some of the film's setbacks. By stripping Amleth of any subtlety or nuance, the attempts to enrich his life with new connections to other characters feel forced and unearned. The cast does their best to make those connections feel organic and authentic, but the one-dimensional nature of how these characters are established limits their complexities early on, with these additional emotional layers then feeling artificial. Amleth demonstrates himself as a ruthless berserker, making it seem like looking out for his peers would be entirely out of the question, let alone that he would develop any actual emotional connection with anyone he meets. It makes the audience wish we either got to spend much more time with these characters to make those evolving dynamics feel genuine or had the run time trimmed to excise those elements entirely.

Even with these superfluous components, the overall thesis of The Northman still serves as a reminder of how fruitless vengeance can be. Eggers makes it quite clear that, while there might be superficially engaging aspects to blood and chaos, this all comes at a massive cost. Amleth has a number of opportunities to pursue a much more fulfilling life, which comes with some satiating of his bloodlust, yet he commits to fulfilling what he perceives to be his fate. Most entries in this genre romanticize the honor of revenge, managing to make you root for the established hero, while Eggers uses The Northman to make you largely pity Amleth for his misguided priorities. The movie does fulfill the surface-level elements of a tale of revenge, though also reminds us that, no matter what sort of tragedies or trauma we suffered in our past, there's much to be learned from making peace with such experiences and growing from them. This makes The Northman serve more as a cautionary tale than a fetishization of violence in the name of fallacious honor.

The Northman fully delivers on its promise of Nordic mayhem, managing to satiate the most bloodthirsty of audiences, while Eggers uses all of the tools at his disposal to elevate the concept into a nightmarish epic of blood and busted skulls. Even while making good on the premise's promise, the film stumbles a bit when it attempts to offer more than that setup, yet by sticking to that narrative urgency, the experience strips the adventure of the other artifices that have dominated the genre.

Rating: 4 out of 5

The Northman lands in theaters on April 22nd.