The Northman review: Robert Eggers’ brutal, bloody take on Hamlet

The Northman, starring Alexander Skarsgård, is a bloody, brutal Norse reimagining of Hamlet that brings Robert Eggers’ offbeat indie filmmaking sensibilities to big-budget moviemaking.

After making waves with his feature directorial debut The VVItch, an eerie, atmospheric, small-scale folk horror film, and following that up with the similarly folksy and unsettling The Lighthouse, the last thing we expected Robert Eggers to deliver next was a testosterone-fueled, blockbuster-scale Viking epic. But despite the apparent jump across genres, all the hallmarks of a Robert Eggers film are undoubtedly present in his latest film, The Northman, which stars Alexander Skarsgård in an uber-violent retelling of Hamlet. Though the reimagining loses some crucial character beats and the extraordinary volumes of bloodshed border on needless and runtime padding, The Northman is yet another undeniably compelling entry from Eggers, bolstered by impressive lead performances from Skarsgård and Anya Taylor-Joy.

Starring Alexander Skarsgård, The Northman tells the tale of a young Viking prince, Amleth, who witnesses the murder of his father (Ethan Hawke) at the hands of his uncle (Claes Bang). Fleeing home for fear of his life but vowing revenge on the man who kidnapped his mother and killed his father, Amleth joins a ruthless army of Vikings and trains to become a ruthless killer, before finally returning home and seeking revenge on his uncle with the aid of earth witch Olga (Taylor-Joy).

Though not every plot point is followed beat-for-beat, it becomes apparent rather quickly that The Northman is Eggers’ way of tackling Hamlet – though swapping a stuffy Danish palace for blood-soaked Slavic villages. The production design and scope of the film are perhaps the most drastic change for viewers already familiar with Eggers’ work – gone are the humble roots of claustrophobic sets like The Lighthouse‘s, swapped instead for sprawling Slavic countrysides, massive fiery infernos, and sweeping landscapes, all filled to the brim with hundreds of extras.

Such a drastic change in scale and scope sometimes leaves The Northman feeling like it has more in common with 300 than The Vetch, but while its aesthetic trappings may bear the hallmarks of a war epic, there’s no question that the film is still an Eggers project. Though Amleth indeed spends a sizable chunk of the runtime carving up bodies in brutal raids, The Northman still boasts Eggers’ unique talent for writing dialogue that’s both period-appropriate and borderline darkly comedic. There’s an intensity to Eggers’ scripts that brings some of the harshest moments full circle back to deliriously humorous, which is a dynamic that’s on full display here. Sometimes deliberately, as is the case with Willem Dafoe’s Heimir the Fool, and sometimes not as overtly, in the case of Gustav Lindh’s Thórir The Proud, one of the sons borne by Amleth’s mother Gudrún (Nicole Kidman).

On the subject of Gudrún, she is perhaps the film’s most dynamic character outside of Amleth and Olga – as those familiar with Shakespeare will already have guessed – her relationship with her long-lost song isn’t exactly the most conventional. Though Gudrún’s (or Gertrude, as she’s known in the original play) characterization tends to vary drastically depending on the production, Eggers’ take on the conflicted mother is without question of the most uncomfortable, unsavory ones – though at first, she appears to be a helpless victim, there’s cruelty and ruthlessness to Gudrún that’s quickly exposed once Amleth returns and makes himself known.

While Kidman’s accent isn’t always pitch-perfect, her turn as Gudrún is the film’s most compelling and memorable – though her screentime is fairly limited and only features a few scenes of actual substance, she wrings every drop of emotion from her dialogue and commits wholeheartedly to painting a portrait of a wretched, twisted woman that makes for a perfect not-so-surprise antagonist to go up against the stony and one-track-mind-driven Amleth.

As for Amleth himself, Alexander Skarsgård has no trouble bringing the physical intimidation element to his portrayal of the young prince – though that shouldn’t exactly come as a surprise to those who’ve seen his previous body of work. Frustratingly, though, outside of his romance with Olga, Amleth is given surprisingly little emotional substance for Skarsgård to work with, and though a majority of the character direction can be written off as Amleth simply not being very verbose, Amleth’s wit and introspective nature is typically a key element of his character – and to see such an iconic protagonist so drastically stripped of his most memorable characteristic is somewhat off-putting.

Not suffering from the same problem, though, is Anya Taylor-Joy’s Olga – who bears no 1-to-1 resemblance with a Hamlet character outside of sharing her gender (and the first letter of her name) with doomed love interest Ophelia. Where Amleth is a bare-bones incarnation of the Danish prince, Olga is a whip-smart and ever-observant ally, and Amleth’s closest confidant on his quest for revenge – not to mention his lover and future baby mama. Taylor-Joy is always a welcome addition to any cast, but she works particularly well when directed by Eggers and The Northman is no exception. Where Amleth is quiet and introspective, Olga does the talking (and planning) for both of them – often delivering some of the film’s most memorable lines.

Without question, though, the most memorable aspect of The Northman as a whole is the film’s frequent, brutal, and unrelenting bloodshed – from King Aurvandil’s murder to Amleth’s revenge and every bloody battle in between, the film is chock full of drawn-out action sequences, often set against striking visual tableaus – especially the climactic final duel between Amleth and Fjölnir which takes place in an honest to god volcano, a-la Revenge of the Sith. Though unflinching in their brutality, the frequency and prevalence of the action scenes are somewhat baffling considering both The Northman‘s source material and Eggers’ previous work.

Still, even if the action sequences feel out of place in such a conventionally character-driven narrative, The Northman makes for a unique, spirited, and unquestionably memorable reimagining of Shakespeare’s most famous play. Though Amleth’s characterization leaves something to be desired, the dynamic women in his life – Anya Taylor-Joy’s Olga and Nicole Kidman’s Queen Gudrún, make The Northman a cinematic war worth waging.