Coincidentally, two of the films I was most excited for in 2022 just happened to land on the same release weekend. While I had a great moviegoing weekend, it was pretty on-brand for me that those two films finished 4th and 5th at the box office. They came in behind two films that were in their second and third week and their combined haul still wasn’t enough to take the top spot from another in a long line of animated kids’ movies. I promise this will indeed be a review of The Northman, but it opens the door to a much larger conversation about the current state of cinema that’s worth having and it’s important to give that proper context, so bear with me as I attempt to make this double-dip cohesive. Robert Egger’s latest may have “underperformed” financially but it’s a beautifully shot and emotionally intense film, delivering on its promise of a Viking epic while also walking the line between the brutal reality of its frames and the legendary, poetic foundation of its story.
When a young Viking prince witnesses his father’s murder and the kidnapping of his mother, both at the hands of his uncle, he is forced to flee his home to avoid execution. Thought to be dead by his enemies, the boy swears an oath of vengeance and, after many years away from his home, transforms into a fierce and savage warrior who is guided by destiny to avenge his father.
The third film from Eggers (The Lighthouse and The Witch) was at least partially based on the Scandanavian legend of Amleth, which was the inspiration for Hamlet, so its literary roots run deep. Writing the screenplay with Icelandic author and poet Sjón (Lamb), Eggers treats that history with reverence and their script doesn’t shy away from the portrayal of the aspects of 10th-century Icelandic life that may be a turn-off to many potential viewers. The setting serves as a great showcase for the filmmaker’s unique sense of visual storytelling but also presents a challenge when also trying to broaden his audience. The latter is easier said than done. However, the script is remarkably well-crafted with little-to-no exposition. I wouldn’t want to go as far as to say the dialogue has no value, but you could strip all the speaking lines out of the film and still have a very acute sense of what’s happening. While that may not sound like a selling point, it is a testament to the craftsmanship that went into the conception and execution of this story.
One of the many areas where the film would work in that scenario is its excellent cast and its visceral performances. Some former, high-profile collaborators in Anya Taylor-Joy and Willem Dafoe both returned to work with Eggers on this film, but the rest of the cast is pretty damn stacked too. Alexander Skarsgård plays the lead, Amleth, and it’s a return to the kind of ferocity that made him a star as Eric…wait for it…Northman on HBO’s True Blood. Skarsgård had been said to be developing a Viking story with Eggers, so it’s probably not a coincidence. Anyhow, his intensity is met by some deep emotional valleys at multiple points in the film and this is the kind of role that would have (and still might) catapulted him to superstardom if it were more widely seen (think Russell Crowe in Gladiator).
Supporting him is Nicole Kidman who has a strong working history with Skarsgård from their time playing husband and wife on HBO’s Big Little Lies. They don’t share the screen often, but when they do they put that chemistry to good use in the film’s most important scene. You have Ethan Hawke who has long been one of my favorite actors but has seen a nice mainstream resurgence as of late. He always approaches his characters from a very cerebral place and I would have liked more out of his King Aurvandil War-Raven but the trailer already tells you what happens to him, so you know he isn’t going to have too much screen time. Then there’s Claes Bang, who has come on strong in the last 5-years or so, playing uncle Fjölnir The Brotherless, and you can connect those dots. Despite being the “villain” in the story, he’s more than a one-note character and I would have liked to see more of his story because he’s quite good too. The performances are so strong that you likely could have centered entire stories around anyone of them.
I have heard the narrative, fairly often among both friends and strangers: good, original movies aren’t getting made anymore. Now, that’s a short-sighted and narrowly-scoped position that I don’t agree with. However, making a successful, large-scale, action-adventure film for adults, that isn’t a superhero film or part of an existing franchise is fairly difficult these days. Even when they do get made, finding financial success is a separate battle altogether. That struggle was on display over the weekend as two of the most original films of the year were outperformed, on their opening weekend, by a pair of sequels and a film that repurposed an R-rated idea into an animated kids’ movie. It isn’t that good, original films aren’t getting made. It’s that people aren’t seeing them in large enough numbers for studious to justify the cost.
The Northman ended up having a budget of about $90-million and it certainly looks the part on screen. Jarin Blaschke has been the director of photography for all of Eggers’ films and his cinematography is amazing here once again. There are several, incredibly impressive continuous-shot takes in this film but it felt very natural in the flow of the sequencing and it wasn’t until the end of those scenes that I stopped to realize, “wow, that was all done in one take”. The whole thing is kind of dark, even in the daylight, and the wonderful production design by Craig Lathrop pulls you into the world-building that’s taking place. As an observer, this film has everything you’d want out of an epic Viking story for a large audience. That’s why its box office number a little north of $12-million domestically ($11.5-mil internationally) was considered disappointing.
There are some similarities to David Lowrey’s The Green Knight which also had a sort of ethereal and mystical approach to its brand of epic and didn’t do well at the box office despite being a good film. However, for the primary purposes of this discussion, I am going to use Ridley Scott’s Gladiator (2000) as a point of comparison. There are quite a few parallels, so that helps. They are both period epics about a character who’s lost family in a violent act of treacherous political maneuver to gain power, both characters were supposed to be killed but escaped, they both had to flee their homes, and both ended up as slaves in pursuit of their revenge and forced to fight in that capacity. As a result, both films are pretty violent and embrace their R-rating. The two films even have comparable IMDB ratings (even though The Northman has a significantly higher Metacritic score). The budgets were also similar, both in the neighborhood of $100-million, and released pretty close to the same time in the year, but Gladiator had a $34-million opening weekend and went on to gross nearly half a billion dollars at the box office and win 5 Academy Awards, including Best Picture. So what’s the deal?
First, let me clarify that I love Gladiator and I have seen it many, many times. I am not saying the two films are the same but I found the parallels to be the most compelling. However, Scott’s epic has some unique charms as a blockbuster that Eggers’ film does not. Namely, more black-and-white charismatic performances in the two primary roles. Maximus is easy to love and Commodus is easy to hate, especially because Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix nailed those roles. Eggers and Sjón’s characters are more nuanced and ask more of the audience. Still, I would say the primary difference in their performance at the box office is the public appetite for these kinds of films. If Gladiator was released instead of The Northman, I could see it having a similarly underwhelming release. Just look at Scott’s own The Last Duel (2021) which only grossed $30-million against its $100-million budget and has been highlighted as the epitome of a box office bomb despite being a quality film by a renowned filmmaker with an A-list cast. That speaks volumes about the current state of the movie business a signals some concerns heading into the future.
If you are still reading (thank you), you may be asking yourself, “what’s your point?” and that’s fair. My point is The Northman is an excellent film, and I don’t use that term loosely. The filmmaking quality is exceptional and that should be celebrated, not squandered. Robert Eggers and Sjön had to fight (figuratively) for their vision of this story and they got a lot out of it. I am not here to tell people what to like. If this kind of movie isn’t your thing, that’s totally okay. However, I am here to share my experience with a film and hope that can help inform someone who is on the fence.
The viewing experience as a whole is quite impressive. On a personal note, I did like the film but, even beyond that, I have an admiration and appreciation for it. The filmmaking is top-notch on a number of levels and could potentially be a major player late in the year if it doesn’t get overlooked. I have a feeling that it’s ultimately the kind of movie that will gain a lot of recognition and support once it makes its way to a more convenient platform, either streaming or via video-on-demand, but I can’t pretend it’s not sad to see it flounder theatrically. I have some hope that, like Gladiator, word of mouth will help and I will do my part to contribute to that here.
Recommendation: See if for the high-caliber filmmaking, the impressive visual storytelling, and the performances to make it all stick.
Thanks for reading! I still believe word of mouth is the best way to help, so if you enjoy what I’m doing, please tell somebody. And if you have a comment, I’d love to hear it! Liking, subscribing, and sharing go a long way too. As usual, be well, be safe, and have fun no matter how you get your movies!