“Expect thundering brutality, subjugation, a mythical sword, a Valkyrie and the cry of the corpse-hound sounding out across the Icelandic tundra under a full moon.
“This is what you get when Hollywood gives a budget and free rein to an interesting, auteur director, Robert Eggers, whose previous films include The Lighthouse in which two men go mad or were already, and The Witch, set among creepy Christians in 17th century New England.
“It’s a wild ride made all the grittier by Eggers’ commitment to keeping things rooted in the real customs, pagan rituals and beliefs of Viking culture in the 10th century.
“The fictional story inspired by the Norse legends and Icelandic sagas opens with a young princeling Amleth being initiated into the rites of vengeance and family honour by his father, the King (Ethan Hawke), watched by his mother Queen Gudrun (Nicole Kidman, sadly miscast).”
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