Northmen - A Viking Saga (2014) Reviews

• Quality production

  thomascosgrove2016-01-02

  Excellent cinematography and great cast elevate this well above the usual fair. The performances are strong throughout and Tom Hopper is a great leading man in the style of Chris Hemsworth. Overall a very good adventure movie directed with great flair by Claudio Fah. Looks like a much bigger budget than it was. Fight scenes handled with confidence. The production values were consistently high class, with notable scenes in forests, caves and swamps all looking suitably authentic and not remotely TV standard like so many other things. Comparisons to the TV show seem unfair as this stands on its own merits as a story. The TV show often feels padded and stretched whereas this moves at a good pace and doesn't outstay its welcome.

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• Great viking quest movie!

  siderite2015-08-16

  What the hell is wrong with reviewers nowadays? Who rates low a viking movie that is filled with action and interesting characters? Why would you watch a viking movie otherwise? For the romance? This film has a classic story of a team of fearless warriors stuck in a foreign land and hunted by their enemies. Somehow a monk and a princess get into the mix, some Viking vs Scot fights, but most of the action is related to the pack of mercenary "Wolves" that are hunting them down to get the princess. They're from the Carpathians, so really mean :) The acting is good, the action sequences well done and the entire film is entertaining from start to end. There are some weird scenes with rough warriors that care nothing of death suddenly shouting "Noooo!" when a friend dies, or random characters surviving the impossible and appearing out of nowhere, or people all speaking the same language, but overall everything is well done. Bottom line: this is not a Hollywood movie, it's a German coproduction, but it barely shows, mainly in the accents of the actors (who should be Vikings anyway). I have seen many other "Viking movies" that are way worse that this and I personally enjoyed this quite a lot. Who knew Ryan Kwanten could be such a badass?

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• Not good, by Heimdall!

  henferdeline2015-01-28

  This is, to my knowing, the first rip-off from the Vikings series.A very sad one at that.... This movie has a very shaky story line, full of unbelievable holes, weak characters and, at times, comedic acting. You have the ever-present theme of vikings getting into Britain, this time into Scotland. OK, they are running from home, where they are at odds with the new king. So, it was easier to just grab a boat and try to reach Britain than to stay in their own land to regroup before venturing aimlessly across the sea. And they are all, at that point, unscathed, in spite of the battle they had to fight to get away. Then they crash, losing all their weapons and gear. They are met by a patrol of superior numbers, armed and on horse. They kill all but one, that manages to escape. Only one of them gets seriously hurt. But they get a King's daughter that was with the patrol, being taken unwillingly to her marriage. They manage to find a monk willing to help (oh, the parallelism is uncanny....). The monk does more than help, he becomes one of them. The King's daughter, as her father apparently prefers her dead so as not to weaken his political standing, also joins the troupe. Daddy sends a platoon of murderous mercenaries to 'take care' of the situation. They are led by the younger of two brothers (the much older one is under his lead....go figure that...), a very strong fighter and more than half insane. Well, they go dwindling each other's numbers until the final face- off, where the paradoxically good vikings win the day - just to find that Daddy brought a whole army to meet them. A whole army to meet a band of vikings. Yes. But fear not! They jump from a very high cliff into the ocean where, instead of being crushed by the waves against the cliff walls, they find a magical boat that must have been just lying around in wait for someone to take it for a ride.... If you have nothing else to do, well, watch it.....there are swords, a bunch of guys get gruesomely killed and the pretty boy gets the pretty girl at the end. Bleargh.

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• Pretty high production for less than stellar excursion

  quincytheodore2015-08-05

  For a medieval fantasy flick, Northmen does look the part. It has fine cinematography and quite gory battle as the characters literally spend bulk of the movie running and fighting in nice vistas. They, however, lack the appeal or novelty to set up a grand tale it's meant to be, making the tour into foreign land a loud yet bland one. Story revolves around a group of Vikings, or Northmen, as they journey through unfamiliar territory. The group has internal strife and ambition for riches, but none of their story is fully fleshed out. The motives or back stories, even for the antagonist role, are often glossed over. Furthermore, the movie introduces many typical characters such lost princess and the enigmatic priest, each with their own equally monotonous issue. With stack of characters, it's unfortunate that none of them is actually interesting. The actors work with passable acting, but the script is basically told while they are in constant running. It buries the story as they roar and slash their way through. When the supposed dramatic scenes play out, chances are audience wouldn't be invested on these characters. It does possess good visual, camera work and design. There are set pieces that offer decent skirmish, both in daylight or night time. Credit when credit is due, most movies with fantasy theme often become blurry as the fight continues after dawn, but Northmen gives good graphic and lighting even in these instances. Action is presentable as well, bit crude at times, but fits the theme nonetheless. As an action movie, it benefits from above average presentation, however the story doesn't venture beyond the realm of mediocrity.

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• Mostly a miss and mediocre.

  Hellmant2015-08-18

  'NORTHMEN: A VIKING SAGA': Two and a Half Stars (Out of Five) A Viking action flick, about vikings trapped in enemy territory, directed by Claudio Fah (who also helmed the direct to video sequels 'HOLLOW MAN 2' and 'SNIPER: RELOADED') and written by Mattias Bauer and Bastian Zach (who also wrote the Swiss B movie horror flick 'ONE WAY TRIP 3D'). The film stars Tom Hopper, Ed Skrein, Charlie Murphy, Ryan Kwanten, James Norton, Ken Duken, Anatole Tubman, Johan Hegg, Leo Gregory and others. I thought it was entertaining enough, to pass the time with, but nothing special or memorable. The film tells the story of a group of vikings, who become stranded in unfamiliar territory; when their boat crashes, on the coast of Alba in a horrific storm. They're pursued by mercenaries, sent after them by the King of Alba, as they try to make their way to a Viking settlement. They also, unintentionally, kidnap the King's daughter (Murphy). Things become very violent, quickly. The movie has some cool action scenes; especially considering the budget, and weak storyline. The performances aren't bad either; the directing is decent and the film looks great. If Fah had just had a better script to work with (I blame Bauer and Zach), this could have been a thrilling action flick. I really wanted to like the characters, thanks to the actors, but had no reason to. I also could not get into the story, or what was going on at all, despite cool fight scenes and decent thrills. There's definitely reasons to like things about this film; but it's mostly a miss and mediocre. Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: https://youtu.be/5_iFqdaycDM

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