VALHALLA RISING
This......was........interesting. This movie follows "One-Eye", a mute warrior of supernatural strength who is held captive by a Norse tribe and forced to fight in "to the death" battles. One-Eye kills his captors and joined by a boy slave named "Are", sets off on a journey to the heart of darkness.
Valhalla Rising is the newest movie from Nicholas Winding Refn who directed Bronson and the Pusher Trilogy. I have not seen Pusher but Bronson is very good. Its like a 2008 Clockwork Orange with an absolute stunning performance by Tom Hardy. After Bronson and Inception, if Mr. Hardy is indeed in the new Batman movie, then color me excited.
However, this movie is almost the opposite of Bronson. The first thing I want to bring up is how this movie was shot. I am not exaggerating one bit when I say every frame of this movie is stunning. Simple shots of the sky, of a knife being dipped in a pond, of raw violent fights, everything looks like a painting. The color contrasts are incredible and I found myself open mouthed multiple times just enjoying the look of this film. This brings me to my second part - dialogue/soundtrack. There is very, VERY little dialogue in this movie. Maybe because it takes place in 1000 AD and men didn't talk much or maybe because our main character One-Eye is a mute. Either way, it works. The imagery combined with minimal dialogue is great but the sparse, ambient soundtrack just takes it to another level. You might be wondering "what the hell is he talking about? no words? weird music? pretty colors???" YES. And it held me in it's grasp the entire movie.
There is a lot of symbolism and imagery throughout the movie along with religious undertones. I'm not here to dissect them, to me that's something everyone needs to get on their own, in their own way. However, I did want to mention it. The movie is separated into parts - WRATH, SACRIFICE, HELL, etc to really drive it home. The last point I want to make is this: This movie will separate people. Some will love it (me), some will hate it. I'm not going to lie, from the 2nd part on not a whole lot happens that many would be considered "action". And this is after an absolute masterpiece 1st part that shows many of One-Eye's fights that again are beautiful yet raw and extremely violent. However, each part is there for a reason and I never got bored with it. This is an extremely unique movie that deserves to be seen - at the very least Part 1 [WRATH]. You might love it, you might hate it, but at least you will have seen something not shat out by Hollywood d-bags.
Valhalla Rising is available on Netflix Instant.
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