Valhalla Rising (2009)

Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn
Written by Nicolas Winding Refn, Roy Jacobsen and Matthew Read
Starring Mads Mikkelsen, Maarten Stevenson, Gordon Brown and Gary Lewis

For years, On Eye, a mute warrior of legendary strength, has been gel prisoner by the Norse chieftain Barde. Slaying all of his captors, he soon finds himself on a journey with Christian Crusaders in search for Jerusalem. But when a strange mist plagues their travels, they find themselves in a strange new world, with no provisions.

With a strong and ominous first chapter, this film started off just right. There was action, mystery, violence and superb pacing within the opening ten minutes. It seemed that this film was going to have a quality more like Refn's "Drive" and less like his "Only God Forgives".

Then everything came to a screeching halt. The action became nonexistent, the mystery was boring, the violence was plagued by cartoonish blood splatter, regardless of the awesome makeup effects. But nothing was worse than the pacing. The pacing became less suspenseful and more yawn inducing.

With the entire third chapter stuck on a small boat in the middle of a misty ocean, the director decided to show long takes of people trying to stay awake. One can only presume it was his way of holding up a mirror so the audience could truly see themselves in that moment in time.

In an attempt to parallel "Heart of Darkness", I believe Refn was aiming for "Apocalypse Now", but with Vikings. The only problem is, nothing happened for a good twenty minutes. And once they found land, the explorers wandered around aimlessly and separated with no rhyme or reason.

Overall, my biggest problem with this movie were some very questionable choices. It felt as though Refn cared more about having striking visuals with an ambient soundtrack than he did an actual story. And unlike some art films, this Nordic epic had little to say.

I understand Refn has made strong silent characters his trademark, but that shouldn't mean everyone else around the characters should be as stoic. That is what was so great about "Drive". Everyone around Gosling's character talked and wouldn't stop talking.

But this film felt as though he had only a forty page script, and then just stretched it out over an hour and a half. And after as strong as a beginning as this film had, I had such high hopes. Unfortunately, they were not met.

My Rating: 5/10

The Hunt (2012)

Directed by Thomas Vinterberg
Written by Tobias Lindholm and Thomas Vinterberg
Starring Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Annika Wedderkopp and Lasse Folgelstrøm

A Kindergarten teacher's life is torn apart when one of his students tells an innocent lie that causes the entire town and his closest friends question what kind of man he is.

I'm going to get really pretentious here for a moment as an opener, so bear with me. They say that art is any form of expression that creates an emotional response. If that is the case, this film is pure art. Through it's entirety, I felt more emotion than several thousands of the movies I have seen combined.

Happiness, nostalgia, glee, confusion, anger, rage, content, fear and rage again. All within the span of an hour and fifty-five minutes. It is a case study in how people are treated when false accusations against them blow out of control, and how they try to get their life back to some sense of normalcy, while the entire world fights against them. Filled with dramatic irony, I spent the entire film furious at all of the secondary characters.

At points you just want to reach into your screen and scream at them, telling them they don't know what they're talking about, but you just have to watch and let it play out itself. Unequivocally a painfully emotional yet beautiful film. This could perhaps be by favorite foreign language film of all time.

My Rating: 10/10