Review of Valhalla Rising (2009) by Rainer K — 12 Jun 2012

Gory, dark and wild as the Scottish highlands where it was filmed, Valhalla Rising is closer to a Werner Herzog nightmare than to 50s films like The Vikings.

Mads Mikkelsen plays One-Eye, a silent loner who is held as a slave and participates in fights to death - earning good money for his owners. After escaping he finds an unlikely friend - a boy who speaks for him on occasion while One-Eye offers protection.

This constellation reminded me of Winding Refn's Drive, where a calm loner protects a weaker friend (in Drive it's his next-door neighbour) with outbursts of brutality. Valhalla Rising exceeds the gore level of Drive by far though.

It's not a splatter feast after all though. Gorgeous cinematography (especially the landscape shots and the dream/foresee sequences) and moody atmosphere make it something more than that. Add the symbolism and hidden motifs and you'll get a film, similar to the ones of the great pessimists of today's art house scene (Herzog, von Trier,...) and there's surely an audience who wants to see stuff like this.

I'd appreciate some answers or at least hints to figure out what's the whole point of the film in the first place. Maybe, I wasn't watching closely enough but was there even a common theme to hold the film together beside Mikkelsen's appearance or any message that the director wanted to tell us?

Valhalla Rising has my dismissal - plot-wise - but it has beautiful visuals and a strong and mysterious central character which I liked, so I'll give it 60% and part on good terms.