Tuesday 18 May 2010

Valhalla Rising: Blood, Guts and the New Jerusalem …


You know, I think — think — that Movie Night Adrian, Dr Kevin, and I have seen something of a Marmite movie, tonight …



Let me clarify that, for those of you who don’t know.


Marmite is a yeast extract made in the UK that — as its adverts constantly tell us — you either love or hate.



Personally?

I love the stuff!

But I think I’ve found an almost valid comparison.

You see, as Adrian, Dr Kevin and I all had an evening free, tonight, so I invited the pair of them over to catch a film.

And, of course, Adrian being Adrian, he’d managed to pick up SOMETHING from Brentwood Library, bless him.

The very obscure, Nicholas Winding Refn directed, Valhalla Rising.

Which sees Mads Mikkelson play One-Eye, an mute, one-eyed, Norse warrior who is press-ganged onto a crusade to the Holy Land.

One that goes seriously adrift, and finishes in what appears to be … well …

Decidedly not Jerusalem.

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Actually, is now a good time to mention Vinland … ?

Because that’s where they seem to have ended up … !

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In any case, I think I can stick — almost — to my assessment that this is something of a Marmite movie.

Almost …

Because Valhalla Rising isn’t a ‘Love It’ or ‘Hate It’ sort of film.

It’s a film that I think you’ll either turn off after about the space of ten minutes.

Or, much like Movie Night Adrian, Dr Kevin and me, you’ll be glued to.

And given how beautifully shot this film actually is, I suspect you’ll find the latter.






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