Fair To Good, Spoilers Subject To Interpretation

Rating: 7/10 (24 May 2016)

This movie is difficult to fully dive into without rewriting the story Michael Crichton original wrote to begin with. I'll say this to start, Michael Crichton's Eaters Of The Dead was better. That doesn't denigrate this film, but I do feel it sets the bar beyond what this film achieved. Antonio Banderas was... both good and bad in this. He seemed to hop back and forth from motivated to bored. The supporting cast however was on from start to finish. The Northmen in this film were great. Their portrayals were fiercely accurate and their emotions were well balanced based on the source characters. Of all those featured in this film Dennis Storhøi gave the best performance by far. Clearly he embraced the role and his dedication makes up for much of the lackluster sequences of the movie. Omar Sharif made a brief appearance but did an excellent job setting the stories path. Praise aside there were clear problems. The pace is incredibly uneven with certain scenes dragging on and others being over too quickly. I excuse the battle sequences being too quick at times as in reality most historic battles are fought in five minutes followed by a lot of battle statistics, tactical planning, and contingency planning. If I go into the film anymore I'll ruin it for those who haven't seen it or only saw it in passing so here's the breakdown.
Audio Experience: 6.7 Reason: The score was alright, it was kind of forced whimsy (meaning over-the-top for the sole purposes of appearing mystical). It didn't ruin the film or counter the scene setting but it came across a bit lame at times.
Visual Experience: 7.0 Reason: It was somewhat gritty and realistic but not to the point it advertised which makes some less entertained. I'm not saying it needed more violence, but it certainly advertised itself as having more.
Emotional Experience: 7.0 Reason: It really isn't about that. It's a journey tale but the main protagonist's self-discover isn't rewarding in this format. The book better utilized character building than the film but the film, due to format, didn't really need to.
Overall: Fair. It wasn't as good as it could (or probably should) have been but it was at the least watchable.
Recommendation: If you enjoy action films, war films, period pieces, or even realistic fantasy I feel you would enjoy this film or at least find it worth seeing once. If you're looking for something profound or life changing, I'd continue searching.