Review of Valhalla Rising (2009) by Filius S — 11 Jan 2016

Refn is a bit of an oddball director, but one thing that his later filmography accomplishes is visual splendor. Valhalla Rising is perhaps one of the most pronounced examples of this, eschewing traditional narrative in exchange for cinematographic exposition. That's the thing about Valhalla Rising, it's not a typical film by any regard, it's closer to an exercise in experimental art, where the medium just happens to be cinema, while most films would struggle with that aspect, Rising really manages to hold its own, and excel in the endeavor.

The movie begins with a group of vikings wandering around the mountains with their prisoner, a brutally strong warrior with one eye, who is rumored to be from Hell. As they wander from camp to camp, the one eyed warrior is forced to fight in various competitions, each time winning without much effort. During his downtime, he experiences strange hallucinatory visions, and is held in a cage where he's fed by a young blonde haired boy.

I won't explain how, but eventually the boy and the one-eyed warrior encounter a tribe of Christian vikings who are traveling on a crusade to The Holy Land. The leader of these vikings states that he could use a good warrior, and offers the one-eyed viking a chance to absolve himself of his sins. Thus begins a voyage that will test each man in the group, and will set the cogs of fate in motion as they journey into a strange land that is not what they initially expected.

As mentioned before, the film only features a loosely told narrative, leaving the viewer to experience and discover the story on their own. Helping out along the way are the actors, who are absolutely fantastic, with Mikkelsen as the lead offering a brilliant performance without uttering a single word. The other thing that helps the movie out is the previously mentioned cinematography, which works extremely well with the editing. Every frame is a treat, providing a well composed sequence of images that quickly eliminate the need for tedious dialogue and exposition.

TL;DR - 8/10.

Although, at times, a bit disjointed; while at other times possibly too meditative, the film managed to keep me engaged, longing to see what would unfold. The mixture of history, mythology, believable characters, and compelling cinematography combined to make a stunning film where each frame is a work of art, and each scene is a story unto itself. Not for the easily restless, the film is a slow, meandering tale of people inadvertently sealing their own fates and coming to terms with their destiny.