Set in 709BC in the Iron Age in Norway a space ship crash lands carrying Kainan (Caviezel) and an unwelcome hitchhiker, a deadly alien creature called a Moorwen. The creature begins to attack and kill people from Viking settlements. As Kainan is the only person who knows how to fight and kill the Moorwen he fights alongside the Vikings to free them from the terror he brought into their world.
It was a premise that had promise alien creatures against Vikings but sadly the promise fell a lot short of what the film actually delivers. The script s very predictable and the majority of the film appears to be a collection of borrowed ideas – it brings nothing new to the table.
The fight scenes have been seen before, primarily in Gladiator (when the Romans attack the Germanic tribes) or Braveheart – swords flash, mud and blood splatters in that slightly speeded up and then slowed down effect. The creature itself is the offspring of the trolls from Lord of the Rings and Ridley Scott’s Alien with neon lighting. It’s menacing to the Vikings but not to the audience.
The Vikings, although lead by the normally brilliant John Hurt are a stereotypical poorly portrayed bunch, there’s the feisty wench, drunken strong bloke and even orphaned ‘cute’ child and many other types that have been seen many times before. There is also a jarring mixture of accents; whereas in Gladiator the cast spoke with all the same ‘classical English’ here we have a mixture of English – cockney and plumy, Irish and American accents, all of which mixed in together sound very wrong.
Its not the worst film I’ve seen – not by a long shot, but I found it predictable, pedestrian and also quite dull, maybe it was the sensation that I had seen it all before.
Director: Howard McCain
Cast:
James Caviezel – Kainan
Sophia Miles – Freya
Jack Huston – Wulfric
John Hurt – Rothgar
For the trailer click here
Read more at: Nerve Curve