Northmen: A Viking Saga

I watched Northmen in a sneak preview in a German cinema, so please don't wonder at my language skills.

I really like such epic movies so i had great expectations. The characters are distinguishable and the main actor has the necessary charisma. The plot is easy, so don't expect to much ! Thats the only thing what i dislike about the movie.

The cinematography and the high-resolution graphics with great recordings from swiss and south African landscape create a heated atmosphere.

Especially the character of a monk is well acted.

All in all the movie is no must see because of the simple story, but the distincitv characters, the good recordings of the landscape, and well acted fighting scenes make the movie to a Sunday evening activity.

Sometimes the simple things seem to be the most difficult. Like finding your way back home. Then again, even with all the transportation possibilities today some have issues reaching their goal, let alone back when this movie is supposedly playing. It's a decent effort into the viking territory and it has the flair of movies from the 80s, when a group/handful of guys were trying to reach a destination or just try to stay alive.

The effects are good, the camera is nice (copying the middle land moves we've learned to love from Peter Jackson, relishing on sights and so forth), the acting is OK too, considering the genre this is playing at and all the clichés involved. It won't be hard to guess what will be coming up most of the time, mixing a lot of known and working formulas, this is a pleasant time waster ...

During a storm, a Viking vessel sinks and the survivors are stranded on the coast of Scotland. They climb a cliff and are attacked by an army; however they defeat the enemy but one of them escapes. They find a noble woman, Inghean (Charlie Murphy), and the leader of the Vikings Asbjorn (Tom Hopper) decides to keep her to get a ransom to go to the Viking settlement Danelagh. They stumble with the Christian monk Conall (Ryan Kwanten) that helps them. Meanwhile the escapee reaches his kingdom and the king sends a group of cruel mercenaries under the command of Hjorr (Ed Skrein) and his henchman Bovarr (Anatole Taubman) to hunt the Vikings down. But Hjorr and Bovarr actually intend to kill Inghean and when they reach the Vikings, Inghean learns the true intention of Hjorr and feels that her only chance to survive is to team up with Asbjorn and his warriors.

"Northmen - A Viking Saga" is a highly entertaining adventure, with a full of action story, charismatic characters and great villains. The direction is tight, the cast has good performance and the fight choreography, locations, costumes, and special effects are excellent. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Northmen - A Viking Saga"

For a medieval fantasy flick, Northmen does look the part. It has fine cinematography and quite gory battle as the characters literally spend bulk of the movie running and fighting in nice vistas. They, however, lack the appeal or novelty to set up a grand tale it's meant to be, making the tour into foreign land a loud yet bland one.

Story revolves around a group of Vikings, or Northmen, as they journey through unfamiliar territory. The group has internal strife and ambition for riches, but none of their story is fully fleshed out. The motives or back stories, even for the antagonist role, are often glossed over. Furthermore, the movie introduces many typical characters such lost princess and the enigmatic priest, each with their own equally monotonous issue.

With stack of characters, it's unfortunate that none of them is actually interesting. The actors work with passable acting, but the script is basically told while they are in constant running. It buries the story as they roar and slash their way through. When the supposed dramatic scenes play out, chances are audience wouldn't be invested on these characters.

It does possess good visual, camera work and design. There are set pieces that offer decent skirmish, both in daylight or night time. Credit when credit is due, most movies with fantasy theme often become blurry as the fight continues after dawn, but Northmen gives good graphic and lighting even in these instances. Action is presentable as well, bit crude at times, but fits the theme nonetheless.

As an action movie, it benefits from above average presentation, however the story doesn't venture beyond the realm of mediocrity.

This is a must see for all those who like sword&sandal movies. The plot is too simple. The story could have been a little more with twists and subplots, not to mention a more detailed characterization. You have a bunch of northmen who are on hostile turf, but the problem is you just don't care when someone is mortally wounded and about to die. There isn't enough of a background story, the history of all the characters, why are they the way they are, their motivations. As a viewer you are left wondering...but not in a good way. The action scenes and also the location are pretty much the only things that save the film. It's always entertaining to watch a well done fighting scene at least for me. One more thing the actors are easy on the eyes, which is another plus. Go see it.