When I was growing up my first movie involving vikings was 1958 classic The Vikings, starring Kirk Douglas. It was shot in Norway and was “authentic looking” for a young kid who’d never been to the north. Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn, whose Pusher trilogy is one of the best Scandinavian gangster epics, directed the film Bronson on the eccentric English criminal career Charles Bronson and now has directed Valhalla Rising. This film seems to have all the elements I loved in The Vikings: Norse gods, swords, axes and leather, however it brings to the screen some dirty and bloody deaths. Mads Mikkelsen stars the film as One Eye, who also performed  in Pusher and many know him as the bad guy in Casino Royale.

The trailer and poster look great and so does the synopsis of the film “1000 AD, for years, One Eye, a mute warrior of supernatural strength, has been held prisoner by the Norse chieftain Barde. Aided by Are, a slave boy, One Eye slays his captor and together they escape, beginning a journey into the heart of darkness. On their flight, One Eye and Are board a Viking vessel, but the ship is soon engulfed by an endless fog that clears only as the crew sights an unknown land. As the new world reveals its secrets and the Vikings confront their terrible and bloody fate, One Eye discovers his true self “. The synopsis sounds great, time to see it next week… I hope so.