Northmen: A Viking Saga (2014)

Elevator Pitch

A Viking longboat is overcome by bad weather landing the survivors on the coast of what today is Scotland. They immediately have to fight a group of soldiers who are guarding a carriage and dispatch all but one who escapes. In the coach is a woman who they think they can ransom to allow them to get ot the nearest Viking settlement. But the king, whose daughter the woman is, dispatches a group of horsemen to rescue her. The Vikings, with the woman, go on the run. Can they survive and reach safety?

Content

The country where the Vikings are washed ashore is impressive. They bicker amongst themselves, the woman is won over to their cause and they meet a monk who agrees to help them. There are frequent swordfights, and the pursuers, sort of mediaeval special forces, chase them on horseback and on foot. The Vikings dispatch numbers of them and in turn their own band is reduced. There is a lot of blood and gore including at least one decapitation, but no sex , nudity, drugs or drinking.

A View

Apart from the landscape which is really impressive, there is nothing to recommend this movie. Only four critics reviewed it on Rotten Tomatoes, three against and one for and there is only one item in the IMDb Trivia. There is a limited attempt to have them argue a bit amongst themselves, and to make the pursuers particularly threatening, but there is only so much you can do with a bunch of guys running away and occasionally having sword fights. Game of Thrones it isn’t.