I being disappointed when I watched this movie. I love The Witch and was hoping that Robert Eggers would deliver once more. Didn't care about what I was watching for most of the movie which is a problem when the film feels like it wants you to care deeply about it.

The Northman is the definition of visceral filmmaking and shows how exceptional Eggers is as a filmmaker even outside of the horror genre. Still, The Northman is no traditional historical action epic and ends up being just as terrifying and unsettling as Eggers' other masterful films (The Lighthouse, The Witch). I love that Eggers decided to pivot from his traditional MO with The Northman while still making it uniquely his own.

A true sign of an auteur filmmaker is being able to tell who made the film by its visual style and composition alone, and Eggers archives this and more in The Northman. Expertly cast with Alexander Skarsgard as the titular protagonist and Willem Dafoe going completely bonkers as Heimir the Fool. The themes of dark magic and the occult are also interestingly handled by Eggers and help defy standard tropes of action films, making The Northman convincing and strange in the best possible way.

Robert Eggers has done so many great, strange movies that the straightforward nature of this one was a letdown. Viking Hamlet, and if you're down for that, good news. I was just hoping for something more. Watch Vinland Saga instead.