The Northman is Robert Eggers's third film, it is his first on a big budget. Now, Eggers is a good filmmaker with his debut film The Witch (2015). However, where he really shined is with his movie, The Lighthouse (2019) which is among my favorite films of all time but that's a story for another time.
For now, let's talk about The Northman.
Film Synopsis
As Prince Amleth was about to become a man he watches his uncle murder his father and kidnap his mothers. As years went by he became a Viking raiding village with one main goal in mind: Avenge his father's death and save his mother by killing his uncle. The rest is an adventure filled with action scenes.
What I Liked About The Film
Eggers knows how to shoot a film. His films are what I like about films in general. Similar to Charlie Kaufman, his films are arthouse films where camera technique and cinematography are almost the goals of making a film. Simply put, the film looks beautiful.
The acting is top-notch. I don't remember seeing a weak performance from any of the actors, which is surprising considering how big the cast is.
The script is also great, the dialogue has many memorable lines. The delivery of those is also great which I guess is an addition to the previous point. Having a well-written film will always be the main reason I like a film, even great acting can't save the film from a bad script, in my opinion.
The scenery of this film is really great as well. There are a couple of shots that I could frame and hang around my room as they are very beautiful.
When watching this film I remembered the Revenant, which is a great comparison as the Revenant is an amazing film in itself. But, it also has the same feeling of cinematography, movement, and general atmosphere.
What I Didn't Like About The Film
Films can be categorized by how big they feel. For example, I rate most Charlie Kaufman films a 10/10, however, I don't think I would like a Charlie Kaufman blockbuster film and Robert Eggers seems no different. Each of those two is more arthouse than blockbusters.
Arthouse films are not a bad thing. After all, all my 10/10 films are in that group. However, they're just not blockbusters. Blockbuster movies aren't films, there's a difference between the two.
When coming into blockbuster films, there's a certain level of excitement, action, and star name which the film doesn't have. I love the cast, but I don't enjoy them in this light.
You could compare this film to any blockbuster movie and see what I mean. It has the pacing of an arthouse film which is slow for a blockbuster. It is like comparing a show like Breaking Bad to NCIS, both shows do well in their intended goal but neither can do what the other show does.
That also leads me to another, the pacing could have picked up a bit more. It felt really slow at a time. The story wasn't that compelling either, so the film takes a long time to get somewhere that you don't even care about that much.
Finally, the essence of an action film is well-choreographed fight scenes. This film's fight scenes were overdone in a way. It's honestly like watching high-flyers in WWE or wrestling, in general, have a wrestling match. It's just too choreographed that it feels like they're performing a dance more than they are fighting.
In Conclusion
The Northman (2022) would benefit greatly from being treated as an arthouse film rather than a blockbuster movie. It will harm both the film and you as a viewer to enter with the same mentality you would a Marvel movie for example.
My Rating: 7/10
It's just good. You're not going to regret watching it. You're going to have a good time with this film.
