The Northman

 Alexander Skarsgard, Nicole Kidman, Bjork, Willem Dafoe, this is a movie with a seriously highly rated cast.

So Noshi and me sat down one saturdayevening to watch this very highly rated Viking movie.

And the first thing I can say it that is a raw, both in story which is bloody and brutal, as in the way it is filmed, with great minimalism.  Which often is great in a CGI dominated era.

In 895 AD, king Aurvandill returns from battle overseas, gravely wounded.  This leads him to start preparing his som Amleth for ascension, and in a ritual with the shaman the son swears he will avenge his father should he ever be killed.  However, as soon as the ritual ends, they are ambushed by his father's brother Fjolnir, who kills Aurvandill and forces Amleth to flee, taking the throne himself.

Years later, in the lands of Rus, Amleth is feared Berserker.  During the assault on a village (the burning of the children scene was gutwrenching) he encounters a seeress, who reminds him he must not fore-go his quest for vengeance.  He also learns his brother has lost his lands to the king of Norway and is now a simple shepherd, so he disguises himself as a slave that goes to his region.  He also finds out his mother has married Fjolnir and bore hime a son, Gunnar.

One night he encouters a vixen and a he-witch, and confronts the skull of his father's shaman who was also murdered.  He needs to recover a magical sword at the gates of Hel, and after defeating an undead mound dweller hides the sword.  When he saves Gunnar, he is offered any wife he wants, and picks the Rus woman Olga, a vixen.

They swear to overcome Fjolnir together and he assaults the defended farm, killing many of Fjolnir's men.  When he finds his mother, he learns she was behind it all as she hated his father, and he was the result of a rape.  She tries to seduce him, leaving him disgusted.  In rage, he kills Fjolnirs adult son, as she reveals his identity to Fjolnir.  He wants to kill Olga, but Amleth trades her life for the son's heart.  After a severe beating, they want to leave and abandon the revenge quest.  But realising she will never be safe as long as Fjolnir lives, he jumps overboard and goes to hunt his uncle.

Here he kills his mother and Gunnar, and as Fjolnir challenges his for battle at the Gates of Hel, he agrees to meet him there.  He kills his uncle, but is mortally wounded himself.  As he lies dying, he has a vision of Olga and their unborn twins telling him they are safe and he can let go, as a valkyre appears to take him to Valhalla.

Okay, so this was a bloody revenge movie, but for some reason it didn't click with me.  Don't ask me why, but while I thought it okay, I can`t get to the uberhigh ratings it gets at all those review sites.  Still, I guess this isn`t to bad for an evening entertainment in the end.