There’s a lot to be said for the quality of a filmmaker’s oeuvre when even his weakest movie is one of the most striking action epics to be released this decade. But after the one-two punch of his eerie horror debut, The Witch, and his unhinged psychological thriller, The Lighthouse, Robert Eggers’ third film, The Northman, fell a little short of expectations.
It’s certainly his most straightforward film: a revenge epic inspired by Norse mythology, The Northman is basically Shakespeare’s Hamlet in everything but name. That’s not an accident, as the story of Prince Amleth (Alexander Skarsgård), who vows vengeance on his power-hungry uncle (Claes Bang) for murdering his father (Ethan Hawke) and stealing his rightful place on the throne, is the basis for the Shakespeare classic.
