Valhalla Rising

Pot Noodle =

I did not like it quite sh1t to be honest when it could have been much better that is why it went straight to DVD. :rolleyes:

Kess73

Could not disagree more.

Loved it. Slow paced, fabulous cinematography, coupled with an excellent performance from Mads Mikkelsen.


Yes it is pretentious in parts, but wonderfully simple in it's ideas. It could easily be mistaken as being made by Herzog if one did not know that Refn was behind it.


I think a lot of people saw the trailer for it months ago and figured it would be a sub titled 13th Warrior.


I do think it could be a marmite film in terms of dividing opinion on it, but it certainly was my flagon of mead.

Pot Noodle =

The bit on the boat was gruelling

Kess73

Refn was either after reading some Samuel Coleridge or after listening to Iron Maiden before he made the voyage bit.

Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.
Water, water, everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink.

Thought I had better spoiler it in case there are people who want to see the film that have not read Coleridge or listened to Maiden.

ultain

Pot wrote:

I did not like it quite sh1t to be honest when it could have been much better that is why it went straight to DVD. :rolleyes:

Could have been a great film..the way it was shot was spot on, lighting and texture..but it played more like a expensive commercial. Great performance by Mads mikkelsen? if looking at the camera with moody pouts adds up to great performance..then yeah he was great. But again, the texture of the film was excellent..would love to see a film made of 'saline' the 2000ad character.

Kess73

ultain wrote: »

Could have been a great film..the way it was shot was spot on, lighting and texture..but it played more like a expensive commercial. Great performance by Mads mikkelsen? if looking at the camera with moody pouts adds up to great performance..then yeah he was great. But again, the texture of the film was excellent..would love to see a film made of 'saline' the 2000ad character.

Ditto, made pretty much the same comment about a Sláine film in the Brian Boru thread in this forum last week.

Decuc500

Shame it's gone straight to dvd. I saw it on the big screen and I loved it. It's such an odd film with not much of a narrative but it's got a great soundtrack and cinematography.

Phony Scott

One word sums up this film for me...ponderous. There are quite a number of moments where the picture holds on peoples faces. It looks as though the actors are waiting (and waiting, and waiting etc.) for the director to call action. What a pretentious snoozefest...

Johnny Bitte

What The ****!
Creepy, haunting but utterly pointless

Evac105

Really reminded me of a play which they couldn't be bothered adapting properly for screen to be honest. All the 'composition' shots in it just became annoying and I gave up

as the last characters who were actually talking and providing narrative (though not a solid story) were being killed.

All in all, as a previous poster said, some solid ideas, a compelling screen presence (Mad Mik can really hold a screen I have to say) but in the end too many "80's pretentious album cover" and not enough well written dialogue for my taste.

arsenallegend

Haven't yet seen the film

but a big fan of REFn's films

Pusher trilogy was classic

bleeder was excellent

bronson was a great art house film with a amazing central perfromance from Tom Hardy

He's a director in which you either love or hate his style of filmmaking i personally love his films. So i can't wait to catch VR caiuse if its anything like his past films in style i will love it.

Pot Noodle =

arsenallegend wrote: »

Haven't yet seen the film

but a big fan of REFn's films

Pusher trilogy was classic

bleeder was excellent

bronson was a great art house film with a amazing central perfromance from Tom Hardy

He's a director in which you either love or hate his style of filmmaking i personally love his films. So i can't wait to catch VR caiuse if its anything like his past films in style i will love it.

Snoozefest:cool:

TonyD79

It reminds me of one of these short films you see in the early hours of the morning on TV which is fine for like 15/ 20 minutes. Its a pity because with the way it was filmed they could have made an epic film.

arsenallegend

Pot wrote:

Snoozefest:cool:

not at all maybe you love michael bay films but i love films with substance

Pot Noodle =

arsenallegend wrote: »

not at all maybe you love michael bay films but i love films with substance

And this one was lacking

Morlar

The landscapes were fantastic but overall the cinematography was hit and miss. Mads mikkelsen was good but the movie just seemed to be a bit of a mess.

chin_grin

Just watched this the other night. What. The. F*ck?

Now don't get me wrong, I wasn't expecting any action packed film along the lines of 300. And I do have patience when it comes to a nice and slow, relaxing film. But this pushed through the realm of art in to pretension.

What clinched it for me was that nothing happens in this film. At all. I didn't care about One Eye, or the kid, or anyone for that matter.

The dialogue....shocking. Was worse than smell-the-fart acting. I was actually riveted at the beginning....it had a wonderfully bleak set up. But then when they started to speak.....Ugh. It was so cliché. One guy says line.....then next guy waits (at least) three seconds to say his line. We get it. Foreboding. Ok.

Now in saying all this it is a film that, like it or not, it will stay with you. I can remember each scene vividly as I was getting more and more agitated! Also my mate informed me that it makes a lot more sense if you read up on Odin....with the premonitions/visions and having one eye. But I don't even want to bother!

I'd say watch this yourself just to make up your own mind. If you have the patience.....as obviously I did not.

Pot Noodle =

So one eye was Odin

Kess73

Pot wrote:

So one eye was Odin

It does play out with striking similarities to the poem Voluspa. The ending in particular

as Are, the little boy, could be seen as the remaining Æsir in the poem, an arguement could even be made for Are actually being Baldr/Balder

.

Mind you anyone who has read some of the works of Dante could claim that there are elements from his Divine Comedy strongly influencing Vahalla Rising, especially Purgatory and Hell,

with One Eye being Dante and Are being Virgil.

The last act in Valhalla Rising could be compared to the last act in the Divine Comedy

when Dante suddenly understands all and accepts his fate

.

Pot Noodle =

What with all the spoiler stuff and stuff blanked out

ultain

Not to ruin the ending..if that's possible!, seriously though the film was very well shot and is a great template for some filmmakers (preferably Irish) to get their arse in gear and make a film about Finn mc :cool: a.k.a saline, not an easy task:(

Kess73

Pot wrote:

What with all the spoiler stuff and stuff blanked out

For people who have not read The Divine Comedy or Voluspa.


Or for people who have read one or both but who have not seen the film.

Pot Noodle =

Are they any good then

Kess73

ultain wrote: »

Not to ruin the ending..if that's possible!, seriously though the film was very well shot and is a great template for some filmmakers (preferably Irish) to get their arse in gear and make a film about Finn mc :cool: a.k.a saline, not an easy task:(

A film based on the 2000 AD character Slaine would be awesome. If it was done faithfully though, it would sprawl and the lead character would have to be just as easy to dislike as to like.

The Horned God or the excellent Books Of Invasions would be my picks for the storyline to follow for a Slaine film..

Pot Noodle =

What about Strontium Dog good character also

squire23

Thought this was a very hard film to pin down. While I can appreciate Refn's intentions with the film & the way it was structured & the use of so much silence to show the desolation of the place and the desperation of the characater I have to say that on the other hand there was too much of it. He needs to remember that this is a movie & that sometimes viewers need more than a 3-minute lock on the main character while he looks brooding & says nothing

Pot Noodle =

The first bit looked promising then it went south big time

Mickeroo

Thought this was good for the first 20 mintes or so. The bit on the boat was hard to endure,but maybe that was the point, picked up again after that. Overall it was ok, but very pretentious in places. I see it's getting wide cinema release in the states, how did that happen?

Hootanany

I thought it was muck

Skerries

i'm just glad i was stuck into my 2nd bottle of wine at the time and was relaxed enough to finish watching it otherwise it was going off

Noffles

Hard work is an under statement... managed to finish it but it was sadly not worth it..

Mickeroo

Noffles wrote: »

Hard work is an under statement... managed to finish it but it was sadly not worth it..

The kick-assery of the first part kept me watching in the hope there would be more to come.