Valhalla Rising - Film Review

  TheBloodyCritique’s ‘Valhalla Rising’ Film Review

Valhalla Rising is set in 11th Century Scandinavia and follows a silent Norse warrior ‘One Eye’, played by Mads Mikkelsen, on a bleak journey with some Christian Vikings as they search for Jerusalem, it’s directed by Nicholas Winding Refn and it’s his fourth collaboration with Mikkelsen. The film opens with One Eye being forced to fight to the death by Christian captors in the highlands of Scotland, he doesn’t speak, he never shows any emotion and even his captors are afraid of him, after escaping and brutalizing them he begins walking the land being followed by a young boy who was with them, One Eye lets the boy join him and they soon happen across a group of Christian Vikings setting off on a journey to find and purify the holy land of Jerusalem. One Eye and the boy decide to join them and they embark on a long journey across the sea leading them to a mysterious island. Nicholas Winding Refn describes Valhalla Rising as his interpretation of a Science Fiction film, Mads Mikkelsen describes One Eye as an animal and mystical figure, perhaps God, perhaps the devil, I’m not really quite sure what to think, it’s an interesting piece but I don’t see myself watching it again anytime soon.

I’m a fan of Refn, I haven’t seen any of his earlier work but I loved Bronson and Drive and I enjoyed Only God Forgives, Valhalla Rising is more on the level of Only God Forgives but probably a little less interesting, which is a shame because I’m also a big fan of Mads Mikkelsen, I loved Hannibal and I was excited to see these two collaborate, they’ve done three other films together though so it’s not the end of the world! Mikkelsen just isn’t given anything particularly interesting to do, he delivers a great physical performance but his character’s a mute and I specifically wanted to hear dialogue from him because, if the material’s right, he delivers it beautifully, like a Christoph Waltz type, imagine him playing a mute! Valhalla Rising is a bleak film, it’s so bleak they had to film it in Scotland and they definitely capture this depressing tone, a feeling of hopeless impending doom, it’s very atmospheric with lots of landscape shots and very little dialogue, Refn describes One Eye’s journey as one that begins with him as a slave, then a warrior, then a God, and finally a man. I appreciate Refn’s vision but I just think that in this case the idea behind the film is more interesting than the film itself. 

Being a Nicholas Winding Refn film, Valhalla Rising looks great, well it looks bleak, but with that being what he was trying to achieve, it’s a successfully bleak looking film, he really captured an end of the world feeling here and there’s definitely a mystical undertone throughout, the only thing I thought stood out as actually looking bad was some of the blood effects that were used, they just looked cheap and stood out to me but outside that everything is shot very well. All of the performances are sufficient, I wasn’t blown away or anything but I believed them as Vikings, I wasn’t particularly invested in any of the characters either but the film is more about the journey I suppose, Maarten Stevenson did a good job as the boy, he was probably the most interesting character, with One Eye being a mute he claims to speak on his behalf and One Eye seems fond of him, much like a protective animal going back to Mikkelsen’s interpretation, and unlike One Eye the boy has a motivation, he just wants to go home, wherever that is. It was an interesting relationship and I was almost invested in it but not quite enough for it to resonate with me emotionally or leave any real lasting impression.   

If you’re a Nicholas Winding Refn fan you’ll be aware of his unique style of visual storytelling, bleak atmospheric tones and metaphorical way of conveying his ideas and you might find something interesting here, if you’re a casual movie fan you’ll probably hate it, it’s slowly paced, it’s very quiet and it’s miserable, all things I usually love in a film but that don’t quite capture me here, if you’re a fan of Mads Mikkelsen you’ll probably be disappointed like I was at the absence of any dialogue from him, I don’t see this resonating with many people at all but it’s not a bad film, it’s okay and I respect Refn’s vision but I just didn’t connect with this one, of the four films I’ve seen of his, this is the worst so far, best to worst being Drive, Bronson, Only God Forgives and then this, I’m gonna give Valhalla Rising 6.2/10 and a lone recommendation to Nicholas Winding Refn fans only! Although I imagine they too will share my sentiment, it’s okay, I wouldn’t watch it again though.  

What did you think of Valhalla Rising?