El hombre del norte

Eggers no tiene prisa y se entusiasma con el simbolismo de las numerosas secuencias oníricas, pero nunca encuentra el tiempo para explicar y representar los giros clave en las decisiones del protagonista en proporción a su importancia. Esto se debe a un montaje desafortunado o al guión de un cineasta que sabe hacer mucho, excepto lo más importante: contar una historia de forma dramatúrgicamente compleja y trabajar con sensibilidad sus motivos. El hombre del norte me entretuvo con el espíritu del lobo sediento de sangre, imágenes, el mundo cinematográfico distintivo y la crueldad que no vemos en el mainstream actual. Pero cuanto más tiempo pasa desde que la vi, más me parece una película de clase B presentada audazmente y con un contenido vergonzoso, que como una «epopeya de autor». (21.04.2022)

Fortunately, the big-studio system hasn't ground Robert Eggers down; despite the higher budget he has remained his own, uninhibited and original, although I think that of his three films so far this one is probably the least interesting. The narrative is not exactly flawless, especially in the middle part the story drags a lot, as if it doesn't know which way to go, but thank Odin it catches its breath again with the bloody climax and the final fight is an atmospheric blast. You will also enjoy the unusual insights into the life of the Old Norse, their customs and shamanic practices. The manly Skarsgård impresses with his animalism and muscularity, so his traditional puppy dog look doesn't matter. Nicole Kidman, on the other hand, is a horrible sight when the camera filter isn't mercifully working on her; facial liposuction is evil. Ageing also demands grace. (02.06.2022)

The Witch remains my favourite, but I definitely enjoyed The Northman more than the overrated The Lighthouse. In the first half, I believed I would give it a full rating. It’s harsh, stylish and in the raid on the village scene, Alexander Skarsgård is a true “animal”. What I enjoyed the most were the shamanic rituals and the mythical scenes, balancing between hallucination/dream and the supernatural. But in the end, I have to deduct a point for something Eggers tried for the first time in this film, which didn’t convince me much: normal, positive human emotions; love, to be more specific. The Witch and The Lighthouse didn’t have anything positive, but here there’s a rather important story arc (between Skarsgård and Taylor-Joy) built on love, and, in my opinion, it doesn’t work at all. So much so, in fact, that until the last moment I was convinced that the infatuation on one side or the other (or both sides) was just a ruse that would result in some evil twist. (14.04.2022)

I was a little wary of The Northman. I found Robert Eggers's previous films interesting rather than really good, and I was worried that in the case of his new film, the trailers might lie and that the result would be torn between an attempt at epic Viking carnage and a not entirely accessible auteur style. But my worries were unwarranted. Eggers has kept himself very much in check as an artist and auteur in an unexpected way, and The Northman is a very audience-friendly film. There's not much room for any interpretations of images, dialogue or anything else; it's much more about the Viking carnage, which is quite simple at its core, and its creator is aware of that. If you accept the fact that Eggers simply wanted to revive a legend of betrayal and revenge, and more than anything else he was interested in showing the cruel world of the Vikings on screen and having a good time audiovisually, you'll be satisfied. Or maybe you'll be thrilled like me. Musically, it's a treat, the one-shot scenes of the attack of the town, with dozens of people dying and blood spurting, made my jaw drop to the floor, because it must have been a mad dash to think this up and organise it to work. But the result is worth it. There's nothing to fault the actors either, and the fantasy elements are inserted into the plot in a non-violent way and fit in perfectly naturally in a wild world full of strange rituals. I really enjoyed the two and a quarter hours. However, I can imagine that fans of The Lighthouse will be a little upset by this actually unexpectedly audience-friendly film. Personally, though, I haven't seen anything better than The Northman so far this year. (12.04.2022)

The Northman is the kind of film that I'll probably be more disappointed with the more time that passes since I saw it. Robert Eggers has never been a storyteller for me, more a master of atmosphere and sinister impressions. That works best here too, coupled with great pagan music it is a wonderfully meaty ritual in places. Unfortunately, the story isn't helped much by Sjón, who writes scripts as statuesque mythic scenes with no discernible arc or catharsis. The fact that it was made into chapters is pretty weak, it's dramatically underdeveloped and the rich visual mythology is a bit flat at times. The highlight for me is the creation of Kidman, who may have the look of a modern woman, but has all the demons of the North in her eyes. The same goes for Skarsgård. This is what Tarzan was supposed to be like. In a nutshell, I'm in danger of forgetting this film, made just for me, the day after tomorrow. Refn's Viking fetish Valhalla Rising is still stuck in my heart. (13.04.2022)

An animalistic raw Hamlet revenge fest that takes a considerable step back after a riveting opening half hour. Not necessarily to a worse film, no, but to a different one. For me it's a shame, it looked better in the first part, and in the second, it has too much competition with many similarly conceived films. Either way, there's no need to worry, even the more audience-friendly Eggers is still enough of a maverick with a vision that's not for everyone. Though they could (and should) have avoided that “Snyder look” at the end. (14.04.2022)

Eggers’s take on Hamlet conceived as Conan the Barbarian with a bit of Norse mythology thrown in. This also describes the reason that The Northman is fascinating and why, at the same time, it doesn’t achieve the aura of revelation like the director’s previous two films. Whereas The Witch and The Lighthouse were supremely distinctive and original works, The Northman remains a variation on a familiar story. Therefore, viewers may be less absorbed in the narrative and less impressed by the wow effect that they would get from watching something essentially new and more aware of the finesse of execution and adaptive shifts. On the other hand, Eggers’s formalistic signature – from the well-thought-out long shots to the expressive design – is awe-inspiring in and of itself. The film also successfully evokes intense physical experiences by drawing viewers into a world of pagan mythology and merciless brutality. Eggers has stripped Hamlet of its Shakespearean literal insight into the protagonist, but that doesn’t mean that he has dispensed with its tragic or even topical elements. The fatal flaw of his Prince Amleth does not consist in the character’s indecision or any other character trait. Eggers bases his narrative on the contrast between personal will and supposed predestination, which he reveals as an extended arm of the patriarchy as a system of hereditary egocentrism built on self-destructive ideals of masculinity. These are motifs that Eggers had already explored in his previous films, though it is necessary to recognise that he depicted them there in more dreadful and disturbing outlines. (17.04.2022)

After experiencing The Lighthouse, I was quite worried about The Northman, suspecting Eggers of casting Kidman as a poster attraction, so that the widest possible base, which is not indifferent to her name, would be interested in the film... But everything is different in the end. It's as if I'd forgotten that Kidman has, quite by default, worked with notable directors before, from Kubrick to von Trier. Additionally, for viewers of the Vikings series, The Northman can be a nice tie-in to the broader theme. There is no reason to be afraid or prejudiced; on the contrary, it is advisable to enjoy The Northman on the big screen and let yourself be carried away by Icelandic nature, just like Sjöström once did. (17.05.2022)

A distinctive creative vision. A dark, brooding historical fresco full of evil, prophecy, violence and pagan gods. Formally, everything is fine, script-wise and dramaturgically it is not so well put together. Some story twists and character motives are insufficiently explained and grasped, so the attempt at an artsy historical drama doesn't quite work, although it should be noted that it is presented in an unusually bold, uncompromisingly dark way, with no shortage of violence and brutality. But that alone is not enough. (17.12.2022)

I was kind of expecting a film in the style of Refn's Valhalla Rising, but surprisingly I got something quite different, much more viewer-friendly and accessible than not only the aforementioned film, but also than Eggers's two previous works (especially The Lighthouse). The Northman is a perfect fable with everything: a valiant hero, a tale of revenge, some magic, or rather divine intervention, a woman, betrayal, death, all that. Even though I know Robert Eggers is a master of atmosphere, I was still blown away by what a feast for the eyes the film is, and for the ears! You feel like you're really there, whether in a smoky cave where an ancient ritual is taking place, in a village that wolf raiders conquer in one long take, or at the foot of a steaming volcano. Admirable job. The cast is also admirable, the human-animal Alexander Skarsgård, the charismatic Ethan Hawke and the even more charismatic Claes Bang, the inscrutable Nicole Kidman and the uncannily beautiful and believable Anya Talor-Joy. I'm very, very happy that The Northman was made and that it's so excellent, and I can't wait for Eggers's next film. (27.04.2022)

I am becoming quite concerned that we now label "visionary" those directors who masturbate to their poseur art style instead of providing constructive storytelling. It annoyed me with Ari Aster, and it ruined Eggers's second effort – I enjoyed The Witch because it built up a really oppressive atmosphere and didn't subvert the clarity of the message, but The Lighthouse was a psychedelic patchwork with no heads or tails. And The Northman, that "Monster of a Film" and God knows how else foreign critics have praised it, drags like a welfare queue. I was really prepared for the trivial tale of revenge to be just the necessary Shakespearean framework both for stylistic virtuosity and for Eggers to translate the familiar plot into the uncompromising brutal world of the Vikings. B is ultimately quite right, and if there's one thing I really liked about The Northman, it's that it presents a dense mythological world that we don't see much of on screen. Unfortunately, the expected camera finesse and visionary staging didn't quite come through and apart from the raid on the settlement in the opening part, I didn't find anything particularly formally interesting about. It wants to be realistic and gritty at times, hyperrealistic at others, and then it's a fantasy about Norse mythology. And while at least the music works brilliantly and each shots looks good on its own, the tediousness takes a toll, and it's awfully obvious how Eggers avoids having to deal with the logic of the twists and turns or the protagonist's actions underneath the mystical haze of every dialogue and the MacGuffin-based "written in destiny" thing. The actors are great even when screaming, and the final duel at the volcano is a nice reminder of Obi-Wan vs Anakin, but otherwise I expected more from everything – even the brutality, which must have been absolutely insane at the time. True, the film oozes madness, but having the characters scream a lot and imitate wolves during mushroom rituals does not provide a thoughtful and "visionary" experience. (15.04.2022)

Robert Eggers por tercera vez y de forma diferente. En cuanto a la temática y la estructura de la trama, esta vez no es nada nuevo bajo el sol, después de todo está trabajando con una leyenda escandinava real que fue la principal inspiración para Hamlet de Shakespeare, así que si alguien lo llamara un ambicioso Conan el Bárbaro drogado con setas alucinógenas, no lo discutiría. Y aunque el desarrollo de las motivaciones y emociones de los personajes principales en el último tercio es extrañamente turbulento, sigue siendo una película muy interesante, visualmente cautivadora y refrescante en la gran distribución cinematográfica, lo que para Robert Eggers supone un pequeño paso hacia el mainstream, aunque El hombre del norte no sea una película mainstream. El Faro sigue siendo mi obra favorita de este director hasta el momento, de todas formas disfruté de esta carnicería nórdica en el cine y deseo que tenga el mayor éxito comercial posible, pero qué le vamos a hacer, será una tragedia fatal tan inevitable como la historia de la vida de Amleth. (18.04.2022)

While watching The Northman, a few films came to mind, which is not to say that it is some kind of unoriginal rip-off. In terms of both content and form, Robert Eggers's film straddles the line between heroic epic (The Lord of the Rings came to mind during the sword plotline) and Shakespearean drama (perhaps a bold statement, but references to “Macbeth” and “Hamlet”?), while its atmosphere reminded me of the director's earlier film The Witch or a sort of nocturnal version of Ari Aster’s Midsommar. From a visual point of view (despite a few glaringly artificial things), this is a polished piece with more than one captivating scene. Despite being a rather harsh film with countless violent scenes, The Northman is not gratuitously and pointlessly gory. I have a minor complaint about the acting, which was perhaps a little too theatrical in places, but, I was pleased with Björk's cameo. (25.04.2022)

A modern-day version of Milius's Conan the Barbarian. That is, a proud barbarian meatloaf that doesn't elevate itself above its station with any subversion or edification, but instead basks in its mythic naivety and thus creates an inner world that reliably operates within the boundaries it sets. When you immerse yourself in it, it is a first-class experience. It's interesting and gratifying to see, a decade on, the cautious return of ambitious formalist blockbusters that model meta-reading (see Reeves's The Batman or Villeneuve's Dune) back into cinemas after it had been completely eradicated for some time. From that period, it's good to recall Immortals, for example, which has a lot in common with The Northman (it chronicles exactly that in-between stage where events straddle reality and myth and influence each other) and whose misunderstanding and failure de facto ended the career of Tarsem Singh. (21.04.2022)

I was so looking forward to this movie, and now I have such a bad feeling about it. Right from the start, I knew something was off: Prince Amleth, his father murdered by his uncle by pouring a sword down his ear, a complicit mother; but okay, I hadn't seen the Viking version yet. The packs of not-exactly-hygiene-obsessed Northerners were picturesque enough, but I wasn’t convinced by their lofty rhetoric. I didn’t like it and found it rather distracting. It made me feel as if the story was set in Christian England rather than among the savage worshippers of Odin. Long story short: lots of talking, little action, occasionally boring, unnecessarily long. I was underwhelmed, yet the potential was there. / Lesson learned: Are you making a film set in the early Middle Ages? Forget Oxford English. (07.10.2022)

Robert Eggers finally leaves the arthouse waters behind with The Northman, serving up solid carnage with a near-hundred-million-dollar budget and top-notch Hollywood stars. The sound design is breathtaking, especially in the first half, and the period atmosphere gives the right bleak impression. Although The Northman is by far the most accessible and watchable of all Eggers films, I have slightly conflicted feelings about it. Both the previous The Witch and The Lighthouse were brimming with an almost neurotic creative trademark and represented quite interesting and innovative works in the field of art films. There's no doubt that The Northman looks nice, and all those booming sounds are quite impressive in the cinema, but narratively it's basically a generic story that is (thankfully) saved by the still strong formal signature of its creator. A weaker 4 stars. [70%] (16.04.2022)

Robert Eggers' signature style is again evident, and thanks to his direction we do not get a mainstream film, despite the trailer. It is a very original achievement that is not afraid to experiment, sometimes going slightly over the edge, and sometimes letting style and quality show through. In the beginning, it took me a while to get used to a lot of mythology and a certain mystique, but by the end of the film, I enjoyed it. The treatment and acting performances are well done, and the only thing that lags is the plot. As the creators had a field day with the visuals, the story and script slipped into mediocrity. The plot is predictable and simple, with nothing shocking except a great deal of brutality. The film is somewhat diminished by this, but not enough to deserve a low score. (27.04.2022)