First reactions to The Northman are hitting social media from critics who have seen the Viking revenge epic directed by Robert Eggers. A review embargo is still in place, but social posts are appearing by those critics.
The Northman stars Alexander Skarsgård as Amleth and depicts his quest to ‘Avenge father. Save mother. Kill Fjölnir’. Eggers two previous movies are the meticulously detailed arthouse hits, The Witch and The Lighthouse. His third movie is being hailed as every bit as ambitious, but with a much heftier budget ($90m) he has crafted an epic blockbuster true to his arthouse roots.
all you need to know about The Northman — a $90 million viking revenge movie directed by Robert Eggers — is that every single moment of it feels like a $90 million viking revenge movie directed by Robert Eggers.
— david ehrlich (@davidehrlich) April 5, 2022
Here is the trailer
#TheNorthman is incredible. Like, fall-to-your-knees, ‘HOW the HELL did they do this?’ good. Breathtakingly gnarly too. It deserves to be a massive hit. EGGERS HIVE ASSEMBLE. pic.twitter.com/NpijhqV6g8
— Cameron Frew (@FrewFilm) April 5, 2022
The Northman is set in Iceland at the end of the tenth century, right in the middle of the time of the great Icelandic Sagas, prose narratives that give an amazing insight into the lives and beliefs of the early Scandinavian settlers in Iceland. The story is a revenge drama surrounding a Norse prince, Amleth, played by Skarsgård. His father the king (Ethan Hawke ) is murdered by his Uncle Fjölnir, played by Claes Bang. That in itself is a perfect plot for a story of this nature, but this is a Robert Eggers film so it will undoubtedly get far more metaphysical and supernatural.
Anya Taylor-Joy, Willem Dafoe, and Björk all make an appearance in what is squaring up to be one of the must see movies of the year.
The Northman opens in the UK on 22 April
