Here at JoBlo, we’ve been pushing The Northman pretty hard. I was lucky enough to catch an early screening of it in London. I was struck by how it’s really the perfect blending of art and blockbuster, with it telling a visceral, exciting story of a Viking prince (Alexander Skarsgard) and his quest for revenge against the uncle (Claes Bang) who killed his father (Ethan Hawke) and wed his mother (Nicole Kidman).
Based on the Viking legend Amleth, it marks director Robert Eggers’ most ambitious movie to date. While already an arthouse darling for The Witch and The Lighthouse, this is a big-budget, uncompromised step into a much larger arena for the director, and he aces the assignment. There’s never been a Viking movie like The Northman before, and it puts to shame most recent historical epics with its dedication to authenticity. Again, I went crazy for this movie, and I’m pretty confident any reader who gives it a chance this weekend will like it as much as I did. It’s a future classic, and I was lucky enough to chat with the director, Eggers, for a second time (read my first interview here) about his journey into Viking mythology.
You can also catch my interview with star Alexander Skarsgard below. Movies like The Northman are rare these days, so see this one in theatres if you have the means. It deserves to be a hit.