“I will avenge you father, I will save you mother, I will kill you Fjolnir,” Amleth murmurs as he hypnotically rows into the open sea. The first 20 minutes of “The Northman” pass in a blur with a Hamlet-esque exposition. Amleth’s uncle murders his father, and the young prince vows to avenge his family when he’s old enough to take action. An epic tale filled with top-notch acting and set against breathtaking Icelandic backdrops, “The Northman” is enthralling from the start.

“He loves history so deeply you feel it,” Willem Dafoe said of Director Robert Eggers. “It’s infectious. You get drawn into those worlds with him.”

Eggers has an infamous eye for detail and an impressive repertoire of period pieces. “The Witch” (2015) and “The Lighthouse” (2019) are simply works of art with an unshakable commitment to their respective eras. “The Northman” was distributed by Focus Features while Egger’s two films prior were distributed by A24. “The Northman” was also created for a larger audience. Although Egger’s whimsical, detailed and sometimes painstakingly dedicated filmmaking approach was the same, it’s obvious that “The Northman” doesn’t want to alienate its audience.
Eggers talked about increased pressure from the studio and making a more consumable movie with The New York Times. “Without pressure from the studio, I wouldn’t have delivered what I pitched, which was the most entertaining Robert Eggers movie, because entertaining is not necessarily my first instinct,” he said.
Eggers pushed himself and his cast while filming, purposefully picking the most brutal environments for a film. “But I don’t choose these environments to be sadistic,” he said to Indiewire. “I choose them because these are the environments my films take place in.” He shot outside and sometimes, like in the village raid, in long, choreographed shots. “I became addicted to white-knuckling the monitor to get the shot,” he said.
With such scarce documentation of what vikings wore, it was difficult for costume designer Linda Muir to base her clothing choices entirely on reality. The remnants that survive of the viking wardrobe are mostly textiles and furs and mainly masculine wardrobes. Muir had to think outside the box for the female characters’ clothing.

“I was talking to [archaeologist and historical consultant on The Northman] Neil Price about Viking women when designing Nicole’s costumes, and I asked, for instance, ‘What do you think might have made a Viking woman feel sexy?’” Muir said in an interview with Vogue.

I found myself much more interested in the supporting cast of “The Northman” than its star. Anya Taylor-Joy and Willem Dafoe, who both starred in Eggers films in the past, returned for “The Northman” in style. Dafoe’s screen time is criminally low, but his moments as Heimir the Fool are impactful and creepy. Taylor-Joy is magnetic as Olga; she’s mysterious, witchy and full of anger. Her character is bogged down by a sparkless love arc with Amleth (Alexander Skarsgard), which didn’t feel like it added much to the plot. Nicole Kidman was enigmatic as Queen Gudrun. Eggers cast her perfectly for the role; her lethal, off-putting vibes were well suited for the role of Amleth’s mother.
Although he’s the leading man of “The Northman,” there isn’t much to say for Skarsgard’s performance. Amleth isn’t written to be likable or compelling, and at times I wondered if I should root for him at all — which might have been the point. If the story was told from a different perspective, Amleth could have easily been the villain.

I’m a fan of long films if they have a point, but it felt like “The Northman” dragged at times. Once Seeress (Bjork) told Amleth his fortune to find a special sword and fight his uncle sith-style on a volcano, I felt like I was checking off boxes every time a major plot point was reached. This made me appreciate the slower scenes and the beauty of the film less, especially toward the end. The film is also gory, to a point. Eggers doesn’t shy away from bloodshed, so if “Game of Thrones” made you squeamish, you might have to cover your eyes a couple of times.

“The Northman” is a beautiful film, but I wouldn’t recommend it to the average viewer. It drags at parts, and the subtle things I appreciated about Egger’s filmmaking are just that — subtle. The acting is out of this world, especially by the women in the cast, but the story just isn’t that fun to watch. However, if you’re a Viking history buff, die-hard Eggers fan or just really want to watch Willem Dafoe play a prophetic court jester, check out “The Northman.”