Vikingdom

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

ESG 2020's Movie Review Of Vikingdom - The Blood Eclipse

Good Story Telling Let Down By Bad Hair Pieces And...

This is KRU Studios' most ambitious project about a forgotten King, Eirick Bloodletter (Dominic Purcell) who is tasked with the quest to save the Middle Kingdom from the insecure and angry Thor, the God Of Thunder .

Together with a retinue of rag-tag volunteers, they embarked on a journey fraught with danger and derivatives the viewer will get used to. My advice for those intent on watching this movie is to suspend reality and fastidious standards and to just enjoy the movie. It is among the rare movies from Malaysia with good story telling with its plot's twists and turns.

Let's have a closer look at some of the characters in the movie.

Purcell's wooden acting as Eirick blends well with the wooden structures on the set which seem to be among the motif of the movie. His chemistry with Brynna (Natassia Malthe), the captain of the ship for their perilous journey seems passable enough as she is to ensure safe passage and motivation for Eirick and the volunteer warriors. Divinities in the form of Frey (Jesse Moss) and Freyja (Tegan Moss) have their respective agendas of assisting Eirick in his quest. Frey, the male divine manifestation, whose costume looks like it is designed as if for him to float instead of walking for fear of him tripping on the apparel. Freyja, the female manifestation, whose costume looks like it came from the bodice and legging of a fashion week design.

Jon Foo as Yang, a slave from China does not look exotic enough but he has among the best fight sequences in the movie. Craig Fairbrass as Sven, the sidekick for Eirick tolerated well the use of an egregiously done wig throughout the movie. Some of the other characters wearing hair pieces had their hairline covered with headbands to cover the 'malady'. Alcuin (Patrick Murray) the wizard is a disheveled, emaciated and somewhat disoriented looking version of the luminary white wizard of a great movie viewers are familiar with, often holding the staff with a lit mast and nothing can be more derivative than this. Conan Stevens as Thor looks more like a one dimensional villain in WWE.

As regards production design, other than the wigs 'debacle', this is among the departments in the movie that could do with observance of minute details and finesse in creativity. The brightly lit greenish in color giant quartz crystals submerged in the water in the hell scene seem out of place in a macabre and sombre environment. CGI and the rendering have been bold and innovative efforts but the aspect involving the gatekeeper of hell in particular which stumped me for being passed as the final product by the creative panel. The creature has a head like a dragon with an uncharacteristically short body. In the wide shot, it looks like the son of Sylvester the cat which the former has a big head with a small body chasing the mouse.

There is a scene in the cave when Brynna and Yang are on their way to save Eirick when they are about to encounter their enemies who are still quite a distance away. The enemies have not seen them yet and Brynna and Yang hid among the rocks. They could have just let their enemies pass by without ambushing them and avoid a near fatal encounter. This is reminiscent of the James Bond movie, Dr No, when Bond and two others with him in a river could have remained hidden from an enemy soldier instead of taking on him by surprise.

Among the relics to be acquired as the condition for Thor to proceed with his scheme is the necklace of Mary Magdalene. This condition is a bit corny and contrived to be one of the relics of an owner whom as at that period of time has not been known yet to be of any religious significance and the necklace being identified as a relic.

As I mentioned earlier, the movie has good story telling but certain departments are found wanting. Major international distributors and movie aficionados do not compromise on details oversight before accepting a movie as being of high quality and be a box office hit. Let's hope KRU Studios endeavor to enhance the workings of the relevant departments to achieve the international success it aspires to.

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...

You will like this movie if you are 5-8 years old.

Lousy cgi, cheap looking costumes, horrible dialogue, bad cinematography and a clichéd storyline. The overall casting was terrible as well.

If you were expecting an intelligent, enjoyable, epic movie set in olden times, you will be extremely disappointed. Vikingdom should be classified as comedy instead of action or adventure.

I'd rather be forced to watch Twilight all over again. That's how bad it is.

This film is absolutely unwatchable.

First of all, i would like to congratulate the effort given by the KRU production. It is not an easy task to come up with a large scale movie set especially when you trying to make a viking movie on malaysian geographical landscape. I couldn't have imagined the hardship and difficulties they have to overcome to create a similar background and weather condition that is to the Nordics. But as usual the storyline is awful. And what with the zombies and the hound of hell? The creature is the worst i have seen in all 'B' grade monster movie. The person who made that creature sure rips you off your money. It is like a monster from a five year old dream. Or it could have been inspired by a project made by a five year old. The action is okay, nothing unusual or captivating. You can actually guess what parts will be freeze or slow mo during the fighting sequence. Shame because there is a lot of potential actors here. Another thing to ridicule about this movie is the hairpiece the vikings are using. It looks so fake a child could point it out. Nevertheless, i enjoyed watching it and making fun of it just like when i watch piranaconda or sharknado. It could have become a great movie if it is released way back in the 80 s and it is black and white. That way it is flawless. But producing this kind of movie in 2013, is sure not making any Malaysian proud. Maybe some are but definitely not me.