Ragnarok

A team of archaelogists with 2 kids follows the trace of an ancient Viking treasure map to a small lake with not much treasure in it - rusty helmets and such - but a surprisingly large monster that chases them around.

Sympathetic little monster movie with realistic characters. The historic set-up with Vikings who battled the monster 1,000 years ago is something new. The variety of the area - cave, lake, bunker, forest - demands a variety of escape strategies, thus the chase always remains thrilling. The two kid actors are not annoying, which is always reason to worry when the cast includes little kids. Since the movie was designed to be watched by young teenagers, too, the bodycount is not as high as in many stupid monster movies you regretted watching. All in all, 'Ragnarok' is a surprisingly satisfactory, round, entertaining movie.

I love this movie. It's a movie that doesn't need excess violence, cursing and tons of cgi to tell an effective and gripping story. I also appreciate the wholesome aspect of the story telling. It's nice watching a movie that when it's over it doesn't leave one feeling emotionally dampened. I was invested in the excellent actors and not only cared about them but the movie made me wish I could know folks like them in real life. I just wish there were more movies like this that didn't just strive for the most base common denominator.

Adventure, mythology, family life, old spirit of childhood. A beautiful film. Not good, great, ot unpredictable. But the right choice for young public and for their parents for nice memories. A map becoming warning. Idealism and not the perfect father. The truth and the confrontation against it and the end. So, real nice. But not for high expectations.

"Ragnarok" really doesn't tread much ground that hasn't already been trampled in numerous "Sci. Fi. Channel" movies. No name actors doing pretty stupid things while a C.G.I. monster pursues them. The lead up to revealing the lake serpent is actually not bad. Norse Mythology is cleverly tied into the plot, and characters are introduced at an acceptable rate. Once the monster appears, believability flies out the window. Necessary equipment seems to develop out of thin air, and decades abandoned underground bunkers are magically illuminated. Nevertheless there is a story here and not just monster mayhem. All in all, you could do a lot worse, especially with some of the "Sci. Fi. Channels" poorer efforts. - MERK

I had been wanting to watch this movie for a couple of months, but I could not find a version that had been dubbed in English - until now. This is a Norwegian film, so you'll need to find it with sub-titles or a version already dubbed in English. The quality of the audio dubbing was not all that great, but it worked. It was a lot better than having to read sub-titles or watch it in Norwegian.

A down-on-his-luck archaeologist is having problems with his job/research into Viking mythology. He's a widower and a single father of 2 children. After losing funding for his work due to lack of progress, his friend shows up from the northern coast of Norway with an ancient rune-stone, which launches them all into their next adventure.

Nothing here is too exceptional, scary, or gory. It's a decent movie for the whole family - and I'm not generally "into" family movies. So, I was surprised that I liked it so well. Honestly, I was expecting a little bit more from the "monster," but it wasn't completely cheesy either.

Overall, the plot was pretty predictable. I think I enjoyed it so much because there were believable characters and good acting - especially from the child actors. I find many child actors tend to make or break a movie like this, and these kids can hold their own. The main character was also a good actor. None of the acting was completely bad, which is why I think the whole thing worked. For being a lower-budget production, this movie holds up very well. It's a bit of a slow start, but once it gets going it steadily builds tension and held my interest right up to the ending.