Vikingdom: L'Eclipse de sang

Went to see the movie on 14th September here in Malaysia and I really can't say much about this movie except that it could have been a better movie if the KRU brothers could have a couple of more millions to spend on this film. The storyline is interesting portraying the god ThoR as the main enemy...I wonder what's Chris hemsworth think about this bad version of Thor. From the main characters to the supporting cast I fell that they are lacking of charisma and energy in this Viking flick. Probably all the fake wig disturbing their acting skills. hehehe. i love Dominic Purcell in prison break and killer elite but it seems that I don't feel the energy or the charisma that he portrays in this movie. Jon foo is lousy in his fake mandarin and his fighting scenes are average compared to his Tekken movie which is cool in its own way. Some of the set design are better of stay inside a school Theather production. It's like one of those early P Ramlee movies. Overall i do have to tell you that this is a good start for A Malaysian film company to show what they can offer to the international movie community. Kudos to the Kru brothers.

I know it is labeled fantasy, but nevertheless, I would expect a certain degree of authenticity.

On the positive side - The county I live in (Trøndelag) and my city of birth (Trondheim) is mentioned. I noticed some of the archers were carrying their arrows in hand, that would be the way it was done, at least while fighting. The plot and dialogue is not terrible.

On the negative side - Just about everything else. Costumes, weaponry, props, SFX. As an example: The hero use a sword type that would come into play 3-4 century's after the era of the viking. Other weapons are just fantasy props.

To be honest, is this one of those movies you don't know whether it is supposed to be a parody or taken "seriously"

One reviewer told kids to grow up...I am 42 years old, and I enjoy a GOOD film in any genre. This was not one of them.

Any Viking movies will always picture the Viking as giant of a human being and they live bare-chested in a country that is covered by snow. There is not much CGI in this movie except maybe the "colossal type army gathering" which cause the earth to tremble.

If you want to see a huge muscular male, then this is the right movie. These Vikings do not seem to feel the cold. To make it more ridiculous, you have a Chinese kungfu master to from time to time talking in Mandarin and able to beat a person who is twice his size with his kungfu movement. And of course you have a girl who is so skinny but yet so powerful and of course she has to wear something like a bikini in the land where the snow is falling. Now, how great is that.

Again, even when you make a fantasy movie, try to make something which is reasonable. A tiny girl beating a giant Viking does not make sense. The story is simple, so to extend the movie time, the scenes were extended to the point of boring. The war takes too long, the sailing takes too many minutes to make it relevant to the plot.

I said earlier that there is very little CGI. In fact it is too little that a little bit more would be welcome. A gory fight without blood is not very interesting. But then again, what would you expect from a B grade movie with some body builders acting ? A vote of 2 is too much already, but I like the girl...

Vikingdom is not the piece-of-whatever-with-no-redeeming-values that it has been said to be in previous negative reviews, and when it comes to Thor-related movies it is nowhere near as bad as Almighty Thor(honestly if there was a movie where the piece-of-whatever-with-no-redeeming-values term applies it's that one). Vikingdom has a cool opening sequence, Craig Fairbrass brings dignity to his character far out-shining the rest of the actors, Natassia Malthe is a beauty and is not a complete blank as an actress at any rate and the movie had a clever concept going for it. Sadly it was a concept that deserved better execution. The rest of the acting doesn't come across well at all, John Foo does try and has some good karate-like moves but his acting is not as natural. He is at least better than Conan Stevens and especially Dominic Purcell, Thor's cheap-looking hammer here had more subtlety than Stevens' acting(here Thor is all moody and angry and no other emotions) and Purcell's lead performance is devoid of any expression or involvement whatsoever other than staring into space in a just-had-a-quick-fix sort of way. The music is constant monotone sluggishness and repetition, and often it is at odds with the style and mood of the movie, while the characters are simplistically drawn with shallow personalities and the script is horrendously stilted and is not sure whether it wants to sound archaic or modern because it became across as an awkward hybrid of both. The story had real potential, but was quite dull and drawn out with some scenes that felt like filler but didn't need to be there, there were also some good ideas that were not fully explored. The worst asset about Vikingdom were the production values, there are low-budget movies out there that are decent with in some instances acceptable production values but these production values ranged from bizarre(the garish mish-mash of costumes and make-up) and awful(the underground basement-like sets, especially the castle interiors, and the wigs that would even give Bride of Frankenstein's hair a real fright). The camera work and editing really hinder the action sequences going way overboard with the slow-motion, the limited colour palette the movie is shot and lit in are both garish and over-saturated and that further adds to how hard on the eyes the movie looks. And you cannot comment on Vikingdom without mentioning the laughably plastic props and jaw-droppingly bad special effects, especially the papier-mâché-like creature that you weren't sure whether it was meant to be a dog or a dragon(it didn't really convince as either). Overall, loved the idea but the execution left much to be desired. 3/10 Bethany Cox

Props for creating Norway in a tropical climate. Is this equal to The Last Kingdom? Definitely not but if you love fantasy and Viking lore, there are worse ways to spend a few hours. It was nice to see Dominic Purcell in a role in which he has hair.