So this movie flopped, and the general consensus was that it’s too normie for fans of director Robert Eggers (who you will remember from the mermaid vagina epic, The Lighthouse) and too weird/dark for fans of popcorn adventure movies. And… okay, probably true on both counts. But that also makes it a very good big-budget medium-dark historical revenge epic.

It’s apparently based on a real historical story that was the inspiration for Hamlet (the part where the prince character is named “Amleth” is one clue, and the other clues come quickly), and it does a good job feeling like a historical movie, in that the characters’ motivations and worldviews feel slightly alien. This is particularly the case in their relationship with magic, which is just woven through the landscape pervasively. Of course there are enchanted swords and seers and mystic caves and visions, even as the movie is also staying in a realistic register.

(What it actually reminds me of a lot is Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, which certainly doesn’t get the aesthetics, but does get the cultural and low-key magical feeling (and has kind of a similar musical vibe).)

My wife thought the movie felt too conventional, too familiar, and… I can see that critique. But at the same time, there’s a “compared to what” element there. Compared to The Lighthouse? Sure, yeah, 100%. But compared to the MCU movies that in a just world this would have blown out of the water in the box office? Lol no.

But whatever you think of that question, it’s inarguable that this is a gorgeous movie, with stunning Icelandic landscapes. It’s well-written, well-acted, and in general, it’s an easy recommendation if a serious historical epic is what you’re in the mood for.