The Northman

 Year:  2022

Director:  Robert Eggers

Screenplay:  Sjón and Robert Eggers

Starring:  Alexander Skarsgård, Nicole Kidman, Claes Bang, Anya Taylor-Joy, Ethan Hawke, Björk, Willem Dafoe

Running Time:  137 minutes

Genre:  epic, action, drama

895 AD: After King Aurvandill War-Raven (Hawke) is murdered by his brother Fjölnir (Bang), who carries off Queen Gudrún (Kidman), Prince Amleth (Skarsgård) swears to avenge his father and save his mother.  As years pass, Amleth plans to pose as a slave in Fjölnir's stronghold, and prepare for his revenge with the help of sorceress Olga (Taylor-Joy).

The film is based on the medieval Scandinavian legend of Amleth, which also inspired William Shakespeare's Hamlet.  However, if you are not into the Bard, you don't need to worry about this being Hamlet, it is basically more like a Viking version of Gladiator (2000), or a plot line from Game of Thrones (2011-2019).  Eggers, who has made his name with cerebral so-called "elevated horror" films such as The Witch (2016) and The Lighthouse (2020), may not seem like the obvious choice for making a blood-and-thunder action film, but the action is staged very well, even though it can be difficult to tell one hairy. bearded, mud-caked Viking from another.  The film is well-designed and it is a pretty bleak, unsympathetic worldview, even anti-hero Amleth seems more than happy to raid and pillage villages.  Alexander Skarsgård is good as the snarling, steely-eyed Amleth, Nicole Kidman is good as the sinister queen, and Anya Taylor-Joy, who made her name with Eggers' The Witch,  provides the film's conscience as the mystical, nurturing Olga.  The film has a semi-supernatural aspect with Olga's magic, and Amleth's frequent hallucinatory visions, as well as a magical sword.  Even though it is quite a long film, there is too much going on for it to ever get dull.  It's been a while since there was a proper musclebound sword and shield historical action film like this, so it is quite welcome.  It also comments on the price to be paid for vengeance on both sides.

Alexander Skarsgård is The Northman

The Magnificent Seven

Year of Release:  2016
Director:  Antoine Fuqua
Screenplay:  Nic Pizzolatto and Richard Wenk, based on Seven Samurai by Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni
Starring:  Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D'Onofrio, Byung-hun Lee, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Martin Sensmeier, Haley Bennett, Peter Sarsgaard
Running Time:  133 minutes
Genre:  Western, action

The year is 1879, and the small mining town of Rose Creek is plagued by ruthless industrialist Bart Bogue (Sarsgaard), who wants control of the entire town.  After Bogue turns a town meeting in the local church into a massacre, young widow Emma Cullen (Bennett), whose husband was killed by Bogue, and her friend Teddy (Luke Grimes) ride out to find gunfighters to help protect the town.  They find bounty hunter Sam Chisholm (Washington), who has a personal grievance against Bogue, gunfighter and gambler Josh Faraday (Pratt), sharpshooter Goodnight Robicheux (Hawke), and his associate and expert knife fighter Billy Rocks (Lee), wanted outlaw Vasquez (Garcia-Rulfo), grizzled frontiersman Jack Horne (D'Onofrio) and Comanche warrior Red Harvest (Sensmeier).  These seven have to protect a town of farmers against a ruthless army.

This is a remake of the classic 1960 Western The Magnificent Seven, which in turn was a remake of the 1954 film Seven Samurai.  This is a hugely entertaining, classical Western, full of the traditional tropes of the genre, there is even a scene where the piano stops playing when a  character shoulders into the saloon.  I have to confess, I am a huge fan of Westerns, and this film left me with a big smile on my face.  It's a good old-fashioned romp, in the best sense, full of action, and daring-do, with a dash of humour and emotion (the final moments have real emotional weight).  Washington and Pratt provide real movie-star charisma.  Aside form a more diverse cast, this is very much a traditional Western, and doesn't really do much that hasn't been done before, but for old-school Saturday matinee fun, it certainly delivers.

Vincent D'Onofrio, Martin Sensmeier, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Ethan Hawke, Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt and Byung-hun Lee are The Magnificent Seven

Daybreakers

Year: 2009
Directors: Michael Spierig and Peter Spierig
Screenplay: Peter Spierig and Michael Spierig
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe, Claudia Karvan, Sam Niell, Michael Dorman, Isabel Lucas
Running Time: 98 minutes
Genre: Horror, science-fiction, action

Summary: By 2019 a plague has turned most of Earth's population into vampires. Those who are still human are hunted down for their blood or turned into new vampires. However, the human population has now dwindled to the point that the human race is virtually extinct, which would deprive the vampires of their food source. If a vampire goes for too long without human blood they begin to degenrate into a violent bat-like creature known as a "subsider". Edward Dalton (Hawke), who is sympathetic towards humans, is working towards finding a synthetic blood substitutewhich he hopes will allow vampires and humans to co-exist. However, his greedy boss Charles Bromley (Neill), intends for the synthetic blood to allow the human race just enough time to repopulate before he starts farming them again and selling the real blood for top dollar. After rescuing a group of humans from the police, Edward is contacted by Audrey (Karvan), leader of an undergound group of humans. Through her Edward meets Elvis (Dafoe) a man who accidentally stumbled upon a method for returning vampires to their living human states. The problem is whether the method can be duplicated and whether the vampires will accept it

Opinion: One of the most interesting elements in this blend of vampire horror and science-fiction action movie is it's depiction of a vampire world, complete with blood bags hooked up at the subway station coffee kiosk, windowless houses and shielded "sun-proof" cars, shot in muted colours where dull blues and greys predominate. The performances are good with Ethan Hawke engaging and sympathetic as the "good-guy" vampire and Willem Dafoe adding a lot of fun as the wisecracking Elvis. The action is well handled with a lot of exciting car chases, and plenty of explosive gore, and the whole thing keeps moving nicely.
This is one of those movies where it's best not to think about it too much after you've watched it because there are so many elements and explanations that just don't make much sense, but it will provide a fun hour and a half for action and horror fans.




Meetings of the Crossbow Appreciation Society tended towards the dull: Ethan Hawke, Claudia Karvan, Willem Dafoe and Vince Colosimo in Daybreakers