Review of Erik the Viking (1989) by Gerry P — 15 Nov 2012

Yet another so-so film from Terry Jones. The jokes aren't really all that funny. If you're a Python fan, you might hate it. This is not a Python movie, you have to understand. It just has Terry Jones and John Cleese in it.

The worst scenes include the opening, the introduction to John Cleese's scene (his villain is really dull and uninteresting) the singing in Hy Brazil, the invisible cloak scene and any scene where Sven goes berserk.

However, I do like the look of this film, the costumes and sets are nice. One scene I did find funny is when the vikings are sick on the boat. "Goodbye Norway. Goodbye, lunch" and Thorfinn, a viking who isn't sick keeps talking about a man who couldn't stop vomiting making another viking Ivar the Boneless more and more ill.

I also like the Asgard scenes and I like the fact that the gods turn out to be children. Oh dear, spoiler. I'm evil.

The dragon fight, it was okay. I thought the dragon sneezing and sending the ship flying was. Now, imagine if they were behind the dragon.

The princess of Hy Brazil is just a pointless love interest for the hero and the film doesn't end. It just stops. No dialogue, just characters standing there and fade to black. Yawn. Sometimes it works if it has the right music, but here it just fails.

Yeah, the music in this is awful. There was only one person doing the music. Neil Innis. I know this is a low budget film, but so was Star Wars. And that film had fantastic music.

When "Erik" came out, it bombed. I'm not sure if any of the cast or crew have anything nice to say about it. Jones likes it though. His son re-edited the film into "The Director's Son's Cut". To tell you the truth, that version is even worse. Yes, the pacing is a bit faster, but a lot of scenes make no sense and feel rushed. Characters and scene would appear out of no-where puzzling the viewer.

Overall, it's just okay. Worth watching for the look of the film, but don't expect too many belly laughs.