Psycho's Movie Reviews #126: Valhalla: Legend of Thor (2019)

Valhalla: Legend of Thor is a 2019 Danish dark fantasy adventure film, directed by Fenar Ahmad, and based on the comic book of the same name by Peter Madsen.

The film was released on 10 October 2019, the same date as the original 1986 film.

Plot

The Viking children Røskva and Tjalfe embark on an adventurous journey from Midgard to Valhalla with the gods Thor and Loki. Life in Valhalla, however, turns out to be threatened by the dreaded Fenrir wolf and the god's barbaric archenemies, the Jotnar. Side by side with the gods the two children must fight to save Valhalla from the end of the world - Ragnarok.

Reception

The film was nominated for the Robert Award for Best Children's Film.

My Review

Røskva(Loffredo, incredibly talented) goes with her brother Tjalfe(Moltke-Leth, not himself to blame for being the only to be vaguely and inconsistently characterized) to Asgard(albeit it is consistently mistakenly referred to as Valhalla... that'll probably turn into a drinking game). While they knew they were going there to be slaves, she is still shocked at how badly they're treated. Finding that the gods are engaged in immature and unproductive arguments(including name-calling, a little of it even ableist), as they are facing Ragnarok due to Fenrir being on the loose, she must embrace her inner Greta Thunberg, and as one of the single most powerless, stand up to those who have the strength to fight. This will encourage many young women to stand up for what they know has to be done.

This does an excellent job at conveying how vast the power imbalance is between the mortal children and the deities. You genuinely feel like, at any time, the latter might rip the head off one of the former, making good on a threat actually made by one of them. As such, it is legitimately intense and tense throughout, almost a horror drama, even when we're not looking at jotun, with their animalistic traits, and unfortunately, problematically, dark skin(are we seriously not past doing that?). It is always dark and bleak, and thus, hugely different from the comic and the 33 year-old direct adaptation. There is some humor, and Quark(Forghani, whose eyes convey so much) remains present, to again highlight the deep well of empathy of our female protagonist, inspiring true dread from no longer drawing the majority of the ire of Thor(Møller, seemingly permanently on the verge of an outburst of his neverending fury). This new version is well worth the tremendous effort it took to produce since it is immensely relevant. It deserves your hard-earned cash, and indeed, a trip to the cinema, heck, just for the audio alone. You yourself feel that you have been transported to a realm beyond what we know. The acting is masterclass all the way. This knows to use visual effects sparingly(the massive wolf looks photorealistic, in part due to how brief its appearances are, ever a clear sign that they knew how far they could push it before the seams start showing) and the entire budget, meagre by Hollywood standards, is spent wisely, making every moment of this completely convincing.

The fact that I give this the highest rating that I can signifies that, to me, the positives outweigh the negatives with ease. However, since others might be more bothered by the weak points, I will get into them. I would also say that if you speak(well, read) Danish, the professional critics point to issues, and their reviews are worth reading. There is a little too much story, and the feature is awkwardly paced. This has very little action, by American standards; the amount came as no surprise to me. It's not what this is about, and when it's there it's amazing. And this does basically expect you to know Norse mythology, which, while tons of Danes already do, might spell trouble if, or, fingers crossed, when, it tries to move outside of Scandinavia. Very likely it will be with dubbed voices rather than subtitles. I'm not complaining, I'm just glad that that's not how it started out, like with the otherwise deeply impressive 1986 original.

It is a great movie! Done with a small budget and limited resources but what a brilliant story telling! I enjoyed this movie much better than all the Marvel movies done with hundreds of million dollars budgets. Kudos to the director, scenario producers, actors and producers.

I recommend this to anyone who enjoys mythology. 10/10!