Review of Valhalla Rising (2009) by Paul R — 18 Jun 2013

Have you ever seen a film that is completely different from what you expected it to be? Nicolas Winding Refn's (Dir. Bronson, Drive) Valhalla Rising is one of those films. It's extremely dark, extremely savage and extremely beautiful. If you are expecting a gore riddled action flick - you may be disappointed. Yes - there are a number of very graphic scenes capturing the brutal and unforgiving violence that would no doubt had occurred in 1000 AD Viking central, but Valhalla Rising is so very much more.

We follow a one eyed warrior who escapes capture, originally held for the sole purpose of fighting, he is devastatingly unbeatable. He escapes, slays his captors and we are taken on a journey with him and a young boy on a very dark path indeed. There is little spoken in this film, in fact the script was probably on a few sides of A4 paper, it relies heavily on Winding Refn's amazing direction and some stunning cinematography with a torturous heart beat drum notching up the tension and intrigue.

It's packed to the brim with symbols, metaphors and religion - most of which I no doubt missed through ignorance but that does not detract from the power of this film.

At just over 90 mins Valhalla Rising is perfectly timed - any longer would have drawn out this already slow film into possible boredom territory, but its pace is perfect.

So - don't be fooled by the posters - if you expect action - you may be disappointed - but for me this just became so very much more. Beautifully brutal, understated and haunting.