Major disappointment to say the least

Rating: 2/10 (11 March 2011)

I have heard some people say that this was an awesome movie, that it had great action, strong acting, good story, etc. Sadly, after watching the movie for the first time, I was severely disappointed on just about every level. Fist of all, there's no plot. At all. As a result, we never what exactly is going on or why. It had something to do with a poet named Ahmed ibn Fadlan, who is banished from his home for looking at the king's wife the wrong way. He then gets recruited by a bunch of viking dudes, who are assigned to find out what(or who) is plundering a certain kingdom. Then the warriors fight the monsters, then rest. Then they fight the monsters again, then rest. Then they fight the monsters again, then rest. Then they fight the monsters one last time, the end. The warriors, aside from having no personalities, have no names. We never learn anything about them. The same goes for Ahmed, other than he is afraid of heights. We are not properly introduced to him or the other characters, as a result it's impossible to care about them. I can't comment on the acting because I couldn't find any. As I said, no one has any personality whatsoever. We don't even learn their names for crying out loud! This might have been forgivable if the much hyped action scenes were any good. Sadly, the action is filmed through a filthy lens and shaky camera work, so you can't tell what is going on at least half the time. More confusing than exciting if you ask me. Bad action, bad dialogue, bad acting, non-existent plot, sloppy writing, lots of pointless scenes, this movie flat-out sucks. Not one of the worst I've seen, but still quite awful. Rating: 2/10 Grade: D