The Northman (2022)

Robert Eggers has been one of the major success stories of indie darling production company A24, having showcased two very different, beautifully-realised styles in his first two films The Witch and The Lighthouse. Famed for his meticulous research, Eggers once again pushes his filmmaking in new directions with The Northman, a thrilling and violent revenge story set during the time of the Vikings.

Alexander Skarsgård stars as Amleth, the adult son of the king (Ethan Hawke), forced into exile after a violent act of brutality tears his family apart as a child. A well-worn revenge plot becomes a chance for Eggers to flex his directing muscles, staging blood-soaked, mud-flecked carnage amidst the more hallucinatory, horror-tinged sequences you might come to expect from the director. The film’s cast is befitting its epic scope; erstwhile Eggers stars (Anya Taylor-Joy, Willem Dafoe, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie) rubbing shoulders with Icelandic character actors (Ingvar Sigurdsson) and more besides (Nicole Kidman, Claes Bang and a rare film appearance from Björk).

Written with Icelandic writer Sjón, who co-wrote last year’s chilly Nordic folk horror fable Lamb, The Northman is another atmospheric, visually stunning triumph that gives further evidence of why Eggers is one of the most celebrated filmmakers working today.