Final Copy of Review

 The Best Viking Movie Ever Made: A Review of The Northman

A film that was recently released that I believe deserves a lot more praise and has sadly lacked the amount of attention that it deserves is Robert Eggers Viking epic, The Northman. Released in 2022 to high praise from critics it sadly flopped in the box office and was met with a lot less praise by general audiences. Unfortunately, this is true of almost all of Eggers major releases so far however, I feel that The Northman in particular has been wronged the most in the way that it was received by the majority of general audiences.

            The brilliance of this movie can be attributed to four major categories, the performances, the directing, the set design, and Eggers passionate focus on historical accuracy. Beginning with the most surface level and easiest to spot triumph of this film, the acting.

            Each member of the cast is completely immersed in their roles and at no point is that immersion dropped. There are some big names in the cast, Ethan Hawke, Nicole Kidman, Willem Defoe, etc. And whereas sometimes when you’re watching these actors you’ve seen dozens of times in dozens of other movies simply read lines and phone it in, never truly feeling like actor crossed over from themselves into their character, the complete opposite is true for The Northman. While watching the movie I never felt like I was just watching any of the actors just read their lines and leave it at that. Every actor, even down to side characters are wonderfully performing their roles and truly giving it their all, with the standout performances being the two leads Alexander Skarsgård and Anya Taylor Joy. Skarsgård in particular is really amazing. There are literally scenes of him foaming at the mouth, howling at the sky, and fully embracing the emotion and rage of his character that is great to watch throughout.

            However, as great as an actor may be, the only way to truly pull great performances out of them is through great directing, which Eggers once again delivers. Robert Eggers has been one of the most impressive new directors since releasing The Witch in 2016 and he continues to impress with The Northman. Egger’s standout trait as a director is his devotion to being as historically accurate as possible when crafting his films from all aspects. Whatever time period he’s covering in his movies he’ll study relentlessly to ensure that everything in his films will come as close as possible to the reality of that time period. With the Northman you can see that in the dialogue, set design, costumes, and props throughout the film and it really adds a layer of authenticity that makes the film a lot more interesting to watch. When you see a group of Vikings rowing on a large canoe in the film that isn’t just some old looking boat being maneuvered by a pully system, it’s a historically accurate Viking boat of the time that’s actually being rowed by the actors inside of it. When you notice the type of jewelry and clothing that the characters wear it isn’t just old timey clothes they got from a prop department, it’s a very meticulously designed wardrobe made to be as accurate as possible to what people during that time and in that part of the world would actually wear. And all of these pieces of realness add to the experience of the film and help support the acting, directing, etc.

            In conclusion, The Northman is a masterfully crafted film by one of the best directors working right now, accompanied by great performances and an amazing level of detail that all comes together to form a masterpiece. I consider it a must see for anyone whether you’re usually into historical movies or not. And where some people might look at the historical accuracy with bored or lazy eyes I implore everyone to push past that and really allow yourself to be engaged with the film, you won’t be disappointed

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