What is The Northman? Iceland’s Black Panther? Elevated Conan the Barbarian? A violent fever dream a’la Valhalla Rising? It’s a Robert Eggers movie, that’s for sure, and Eggers, having made two bona fide New England horror masterpieces, The Witch and The Lighthouse, gets to write his own ticket. Focus Features appears to have let him write that ticket in blood. Alexander Skarsgård plays Amleth, a Scandinavian folklore figure and the basis for another figure you might know named Prince Hamlet. As a boy, Amleth’s father, King Aurvandill (Ethan Hawke), is slain by his brother, Fjölnir (Claes Bang). As a man, he craves revenge. Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicole Kidman, and Willem Dafoe, three people who refuse to stop being in stuff, co-star alongside Skarsgård, Hawke, Bang, and Icelanders Hafþór Júlíus “The Mountain” Björnsson and Björk, who is such a perfect fit for Eggers’ cinema that it’s a wonder she didn’t show up in either of his previous movies.
Focus Features will release The Northman on April 22, 2022.
