Psycho's Movie Reviews #319: Vikingdom (2013)

Vikingdom is a Malaysian English-speaking fantasy action film directed by Yusry Abdul Halim, produced by Shireen M. Hashim, written by Abdul Halim, and starring Dominic Purcell, Conan Stevens, Craig Fairbrass, Natassia Malthe, and Jon Foo.

The film was released in Malaysia and the United States on 12 September 2013 and 4 October 2013 respectively. Upon its release, Vikingdom was a major box office bomb with grossing only $550,000 against an estimated production budget of only $15 million and it received general poor critical reaction from critics.

Plot

In the mists of time comes the clanging of steel against steel, and in a collision of myth and history, there is the "Vikingdom". Based on Viking folklore and the poems they left, Vikingdom is a fantasy, action adventure film about a forgotten king named Eirick. Tasked with the impossible odds to defeat Thor, the Norse god of thunder, who is on a mission to gather key ancient relics: the Mjölnir, his hammer from Valhalla; the Necklace of Mary Magdalene from Midgard; and the Horn from Helheim. This needs to be accomplished before the sinister event of the Blood Eclipse, or else dire consequences will be faced by all in the realm.

Reception/Box Office

Critical reception for Vikingdom was predominantly negative and the film holds a rating of 39 on Metacritic (based on 6 reviews) and 43% on Rotten Tomatoes (based on 7 reviews).

Dennis Harvey of Variety remarks of the film being "lively and colourful, albeit in ways that will often seem cheesy to audiences accustomed to more sophisticated and expensive fare." He also noted of the screenplay being "a near-nonsensical string of action set pieces not without humour" though the dialogue presented "often amuses unintentionally."

Budget $15.6million

Box office $550,796

My Review

Ok look...I absolutely understand the negative reviews. Some of them are even fair, but this short review will come from a different bent.

This movie was made because somebody liked Vikings...PERIOD. It wasn't made to be a blockbuster $100M hit, or to be nominated for Academy Awards. It was made because there simply aren't enough Viking movies. If you keep that important fact in mind, the movie is nowhere near as bad as those who completely trashed it would have you believe. Don't get me wrong...this is no "Pathfinder," "The 13th Warrior," or "Valhalla Rising," but it is serviceable for those who really enjoy the genre. I assume if you're reading this then you have some sort of interest in Norse mythology or Vikings and have either watched the film or are considering watching the film, so again, I remind you that there simply are not that many Viking movies to choose from.

Everything about the film is what I would call "very average." The acting and directing is "okay." Some of the extended cast are a little less smooth in their roles, but at least it does not feel like student actors or college students reading from cue sheets. The plot is not anything novel or prophetic, but again...beggars can't be choosers. With that, there are some tired clichés as well as some overdone scene acting (eg Thor) but these aspects are tolerable. The production itself is average, as all special fx are CGI instead of practical. This is always a negative point in my book, but again, we're talking about a low budget that had to work within its means. Some nice scenery, but nothing to write home about, as some of the sets are CGI enhanced. The script also falls in to the "cliché" category, with many of the usual tropes thrown in - man gives stirring speech to rally troops, all troops simultaneously respond with identical motions and responses; slow motion used in many fight scenes to (try and) "make it look cool;" small Asian looking guy who knows martial arts and knows just enough English to pop out a couple one-liners.

The bottom line is that you should not come in to this film thinking it is anything other than a relatively low(er) budget Viking film. While it is what I would call serviceable, I probably wouldn't recommend it for people who are not fans of the genre. For those who ARE fans, settle in, keep an open mind, and don't be overly critical on the number of flaws and things that don't make sense. If you follow these guidelines, it will actually (well, likely) be a fun one-time watch.

Notes on parental content:

• a couple instances of profanity but very little throughout

• nudity and sexual situations are minimal. There is one "scene" in the movie but beyond that, there is no gratuitous use.

• lots of fighting and violence as well as blood. If the fx were practical then I would even say there's quite s bit of gore, but because everything is CGI there is less impact on the viewer. Still not a movie I would recommend for young children.

• no scary scenes, but I suppose some of the fight scenes could be considered intense.

Like I said...I wouldn't recommend this to folks who are not fans of the genre, but for those who are, there are countless worse movies out there. At the end of the day, the world simply needs more Norse/Viking movies.

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I really do not understand the bad reviews surround this movie. It all depends on your mindset I guess. If you're going into this comparing it to the usual Hollywood stuff, well OK, we can see this is not exactly Lord of the Rings but that isn't exactly a bad thing. In fact...if you love B-movies, I can guarantee this is the "Lord of the Rings" of B-Movies ! It's definitely the most fun independent fantasy film I've ever seen.

To begin with, the plot might be a bit crazy, but it's very original because it tries to stand apart from the usual lack of imagination we see nowadays coming from Hollywood. Sometimes it works, others not really but who cares, it's a B-movie people, it does not need to make sense, it only needs to be fun and filled with adrenaline, and this movie is all that.

Also the design is fantastic most of the time. OK, it's all CGI and it's evident that it is CGI. So... ? Do you mean that in the big blockbuster Hollywood movies you don't notice the backgrounds are also CGI ?! Really ?!! Besides this is not a big blockbuster movie although sometimes manages to feel like an incredible epic piece of work. The scenery looks amazing most of the time, the whole graphic look is beautiful throughout and as far as "photoshop" movies go, this is the best one since the French "Vidoq" a few years ago. A lot more fun than 300 or Sin City combined because it does not take itself seriously too and that makes it work.

The plot is well paced, some fun twists, lots of diversity in the "road movie" locations and everything a fantasy fan can ask for if he just relaxes and leaves the brain out the door for a couple of well spent hours. As for the racism or religious offenses claim some people mention...you must be joking. This is not exactly a great adaptation of Norse sagas but it manages to capture some of their best pulp-fiction plot points and it does not need to be an accurate study in mythology to work perfectly.

If you love B-movies and you love fantasy don't hesitate, go get this movie. After I've seen my torrent copy, I went to amazon and ordered the 3d blu-ray which I cannot wait to see.

Ignore the bad hype. Do not compare this to Hollywood stuff because, actually in some things its a lot better than what comes out of American giant blockbusters most of the times. At least it tries to do something different and be as original as it can without fear of loosing audiences.

Oh, and by the way this has buckets of blood in it. If you love gory battle scenes this is the movie to check out. Although they are all totally cartoon and so they are completely harmless and fun , which is exactly what the movie is asking for.

I can hardly believe a movie with this look was entirely shot in Malaysia! Just by this it should be praised because Vikingdom looks fantastic and i though this was some kind of independent European production shot in Norway or something. It's not, it's an oriental movie. Amazing.

The only thing to me that is really bad in it are some castle interiors which really look like square rooms with not much personality or design in it and i don't understand this as most of the movie looks beautiful. Perhaps production run out of money to build more stuff.

Nevertheless ignore the bad hype, this is a great little B-movie, with tons of fun, great action one-to-one fighting scenes, a vast epic feel sometimes and the best Thor ever put to screen.

If you love independent low budget fantasy cinema go for it. It's really the best out there and i hope they make a sequel very soon. 9/10