Review: The Viking Sagas


Ralf Moeller, armed with the Ghost Sword, and trained by a skilled but disgraced and somewhat uncontrollable warrior (Sven-Ole Thorsen), seeks revenge on the marauders who killed his father and ran the townsfolk out of Dodge…er, out of a part of Iceland.

 

Gory 1995 smaller-scale epic, directed by cinematographer Michael Chapman (director of “All the Right Moves” and “Clan of the Cave Bear”), might’ve been a fun little B-movie, but is let down by poor story-telling, an authentic but raw cast, and few new ideas. Also, it’s Viking characters didn’t seem all that distinctively Viking to me. I guess they wanted a more realistic portrait of the Vikings (more Icelandic, and less Kirk Douglas-ish that is), but as presented here, they’re no different from any warrior army from medieval history, and are mostly interchangeable.

 

Most of the performances are horribly bland (having English as a second language wouldn’t have helped) and the characterisation threadbare, but veteran henchman/stunt man (on practically action movie of the 80s and 90s you’ve ever seen) Thorsen is surprisingly OK in the film’s most interesting role, and Moeller might’ve been acceptable if he were re-cast as a second-in-command baddie. It’s only real asset is some very gory battle scenes that deserved a better director and editor, I’m afraid. But hey, a decapitation is a decapitation. Stick with the Kirk Douglas film (“The Vikings”), at least that had a nefarious Frank Thring and Ernest Borgnine proudly jumping into a pit of wolves.

 

Scripted by Dale Herd (“Carried Away”), it lacks focus or a point, and the voiceover narration is just awful. Someone might’ve been able to make a good movie here, but it’d need some serious work all over the place. By all means though, keep making Viking movies. There aren’t enough of them.

 

Rating: C

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