There are films that despite the best efforts and intentions of the film-makers just don’t work. This could be due to many reasons, whether flaws in the technical aspects, weaknesses in the casting, or sometimes just simply bad timing. Vikingdom is a film that comes so close to being successful but the combination of issues in all these elements unfortunately detracts from what the film could have been.
The story is of a lost, self-exiled Nordic king known as Eirick (Dominic Purcell) who, after being slain in battle, was given life through his close, intimate relationship with the god Freyja (Tegan Moss). His idyllic life as a hermit who butchers the odd bear is disturbed when he is tasked by Frey (Jesse Moss), another god, to find a lost horn that will help stop Thor (Conan Stevens), the God Of Thunder, from taking over the Earth’s realm. This horn must be recovered and used at just the right moment during the Blood Eclipse to render Thor vulnerable. To succeed Eirick must group together a band of mercenaries including best buddy-at-arms Sven (Craig Fairbass) to journey across dangerous lands and battle many armies.
All this sounds like good old-fashioned fun but there are just too many unavoidable problems that really pull the viewer out the adventure. Much has been made of the budget of Vikingdom (an estimated $15 million) and how successful the film is given those constraints. The difficulty with the film though is to see exactly where that money has been spent and this comes down to the unrealistic ambitions of the film. It appears to be the case that director Yusry Adb Halim had something in mind akin to a cross between 300 and The Matrix, with a little of The Lord Of The Rings thrown in for good measure.
The colour palette is bleached to create a world of different shades of grey which emphasises the copious amounts of bloodletting and the fight scenes, of which there are many, are long and contain repeated use of slow motion. After a while though they all begin to look a little bit the same and coupled with the seeming inability of any opposing soldiers to fight at all creates a feeling of disbelief. The effects present another problem. At times they are effective and atmospheric and at others are simply laughable.
For a film that is trying to build a world for the audience the existence of unconvincing wigs and cheap looking sets is a major issue and does not draw you in. There is a constant feeling of watching a daytime television historical reconstruction as opposed to a film and this gets in the way of really enjoying the Vikingdom. The performances are fine but vary from one extreme to another. Fairbass looks to be having a great time but could be in an entirely different film to some of the supporting actors who are taking the whole thing far too seriously for their own good and as such deliver lines with distinctly wooden effect.
OVERALL SUMMARY
Vikingdon is ultimately disappointing as it never quite seems to make up its mind what it wants to be. There are notions of a historical epic but it is just not engaging enough. In a cinematic universe where Middle Earth exists any film with aspirations towards fantasy has to be clear where it is aiming and Vikingdon doesn’t give that impression at all. What’s left is a combination of many ingredients that is pretty forgettable and sadly, quite bland.
