Valhalla Rising
Directed by: Nicolas Winding Refn
Starring: Mads Mikkelsen
Released: 2009
Country of Origin: UK
Runtime: 93 min.
Never trust movie trailers. I find it preferable to enter into a film with as few expectations as possible. I understand this can be a hard things to do, trailers are often the only way people are aware that movies actually exist. It's also something we expect to see before we decided a certain film is the right choice. However, these previews can greatly distort the artistic nature of a film in an effort to appeal to the widest possible audience. I used to work at Hastings, and I can't tell you how many times I've seen people rent a film only to return it the next day, complaining that it wasn't at all what they expected and they hated it. These unrealistic expectations often prevent people from objectively viewing a movie for what it is, as opposed to what they think they should see. A repeat viewing of the film often solves that issue, but most will never give it a second try. After watching Valhalla Rising, I can see that it's going to suffer tremendously from it's inaccurate marketing campaign. From the box art, synopsis, and trailers, people are going to go into this expecting a viking action film. The film has vikings in it, and there is some action present, but this is very far removed from what the words "viking action film" imply.
Directed by one of my new favorite directors, Nicolas Winding Refn, Valhalla Rising stars Mads Mikkelsen as One-Eye, a Nordic warrior who possess superhuman strength and a knack for killing just about anything. For years he has been held prisoner and forced to fight to the death for the pleasure of his Viking captors. Seeming to be plagued with prophetic dreams, One-Eye is able to escape and kill his masters, and embarks into the unknown followed by a young boy who attended to him in his prison. The two eventually join up with a band of Christian crusaders in search of the Holy Land, promising One-Eye redemption from his pagan ways in return for his aide. After a misguided and very foggy boat ride, the group arrives in what appears to be North America. Upon learning that they're definitely not in Jerusalem, they proceed to get attacked by unseen natives, trip out on hallucinogenics, build pointless piles of rocks, and claim the land in the name of the Lord. Explaining the plot really does nothing to prepare you for what you will see and experience in this film. Telling someone that this is a viking film is technically correct, but it's also one hell of a trippy, artsy ride into the depths of religious fervor and nihilistic brutality.
Refn directed one of my favorite films of last year, Bronson. Which took elements of A Clockwork Orange and spiced them with slight nods at David Lynch to tell the insane story of Britain's most violent prisoner. Upon seeing trailers for Valhalla Rising, I expected an epic, violent viking tale in the style of Refn's previous film. Instead I got an atmospheric mind-trip that owes more to El Topo, Aguirre, The Wrath Of God, and the films of Kenneth Anger than is does The 13th Warrior, or just about any viking film I've ever seen. It's deliberately paced (which is basically how we film snobs say: "It's slow as hell!"), with very little dialogue to drive the plot, but I found the whole experience memorizing and completely captivating. Mads Mikkelsen never utters single word in the film's 93 minute runtime, yet his presence and power leaves the strongest impression after the credits roll. It's the mark of a true actor, when a performance is this memorable despite never saying anything. The score is also perfectly matched to Valhalla Rising's apocalyptic overtones of dread, menace, and death. Originally, Refn wanted Mogwai to provide the film's score, but schedule conflicts made it impossible. I love Mogwai, and while I'm sure they would have done an excellent job, I'm rather glad the film has the score it does. The music is minimalistic, dark, and relies heavily on electronics, often reminding me of a more cinematic version of dark-ambient mastermind, Lustmord.
FINAL VERDICT: This film is going to split most audiences right down the middle. People who just want a popcorn film are going to absolutely hate it, while I expect people with a taste for the more abstract and experimental realms of cinema will find a lot to rejoice about with Valhalla Rising. Personally, I loved it and it reminded me of just why I'm so obsessed with film. I had an misguided perception of what this film was going to be like, but I'm far happier with what I got. If you see this on the rental shelves and think you've just found sweetass, violent film about vikings, stop right there and leave this one alone. If you're aware of what you're getting into, your experience with it might be a little better. However, I still feel this film will only to appeal to a select crowd of people. People like me. And let's be honest, I'm a little off.
I just watched this the other day and thought it was decent, but "slow as hell" is accurate, if not an understatement. I'm not normally one to give bad marks to a movie for being slow-paced, but I think 75% of this film was literally in slow-motion. The majority of the scenes consisted of: a slow-motion shot of some guys sitting around, a slow-motion close up of the kid's face, a slow-motion shot of One-Eye standing motionless, someone saying something like "we're cursed", cut back to a slow-motion close up of the kid's face, and so on and so on.
ReplyDeleteI liked the look and style of the movie, but everything was just slowed down and drawn out about twice as long as it needed to be in my opinion. It had good atmosphere, but there was so much atmosphere and so little of anything else that it got tiresome after a while.
The music was very good and there were brief moments of badassness. I give it a C+