Customer Reviews

The Viking Sagas

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

As a historical student on the viking age, I found this movie very close to what I studied. It has very few flaws and I must admit that seing the movie makes you crave for a trip to Iceland as the scenery is beautiful. Of course this is a low budget movie, so the chieftains'army isn't as big as it should but the costumes are quite adequate to the place and period(good research). The saga itself is wonderfully woven dispite the (I must admit...) average (very average...) acting by a couple of actors but some of them I would like to see in another movie as they reached me for their excellent "role-play". I have not seen any anachronism as to the weapons, armor, use of iceland ponies, clothing, buildings, social values and demeanour. A must see for every viking enthousiast, viking age student and re-enactors!!!

If you are interested in the sagas and want to see them as a movie, this is an excellent 5 star attempt at it, and you won't be disappointed. Ok maybe 4.5 stars, but it is very good if you have more than a passing interest in the sagas.

If you are after a more "popular" movie though, perhaps an action movie somewhat related to vikings, then you might only give this 3.5 stars, and call it a B grade movie. Even then you may find it entertaining, but it is not super-fantastic.

The story is interesting, the behaviour of the people realistic, the settings are excellent and authentic (I've been to all those locations and in reality they are even more beautiful) ... they've even used Icelandic horses (with their unique gait) which was good to see.

Very enjoyable, especially if interested in the sagas. Wish they would make more movies of them.

I do not know why there are not more movies based on great historical events or eras. I speak of films on par with Braveheart, or Rob Roy, for example. There are very few movies based on the Viking age, or having anything to do with Scandinavia for that matter. Unfortunately, most Viking movies seem to be grade "B" affairs, and this is a huge injustice to the complex nature of the Sagas. In the "plot summary" for this site, a stupid reviewer describes it as "a time when conflicts weren't solved with intellect, but with swords". That reviewer obviously has never read a Nordic Saga, and has no understanding of Scandinavian culture. In fact, negotiation and diplomacy were often as highly esteemed as prowess in battle. The differance is, Men of that age were not afraid to stand up to their enemies in combat. In our time, a loud mouth is the only acceptable "weapon".
If literate people were running the production studios in Hollywood, perhaps we would see a lot more films based on the sagas of Scandinavia. The potential for great historical drama is enormous!
This film is loosely based on the Laxardal Saga from Iceland. I found it to be quite enjoyable, and the Icelandic scenery is a major feature. It could have been more than what it is, however, being somewhat of an action-movie, to a degree. It portays the Laxardal Saga characters Kjartan and Gudrun, but does not really portray the story as it is written in the saga.

This movie was obviously an attempt to create a new "Viking Saga" based on Icelandic saga material. The student of the Sagas will find much that is familiar as some scenes are only slightly modified from Njal's Saga and some characters are clearly modelled on characters from a wide number of sagas. For example Magnus is modelled on Njal, while Gunnar seems to be modelled both on Gunnar in Njal's Saga and Kjartan in the Laxdaela Saga. Kjartan on the other hand seems partly modelled after both Bolli and Kjartan in the Laxdaela Saga. Influence can be seen from those sagas plus (possibly) Grettir's Saga and the Eyrbiggja Saga. The movie generally succeeds at mimicking some of the stylistic elements of the Sagas themselves.

However, the movie seems to fall apart in some other important ways. I found the narration to be at times monotonous, and the good vs evil themes in the movie seemed rather foreign to the genre. The Lawspeaker (a short-term role) was turned into a heredetary Lawgiver role reminiscent of a sacral king, and the fight at the Althing was put in for plot reasons, not because of any case of such a thing happening in the Sagas. These elements significantly detracted from the overall movie. It would be nice to see a much better movie based on the sorts of stories the Sagas excel at-- family histories, tales of the human condition, and the like.

I thought the acting was good and the cinematography well done as well. Worth seeing but not fantastic.

It was great to see the sagas come to life on the screen. The Icelandic sagas are so rich, it was about time someone made a movie similar to them. The sagas make 'The Hatfields and McCoys feud' look like child's play. Very realistic props, attitudes and characters. Ralf Moeller was good enough for 'Gladiator' right? I just wish it could have been more exciting like 'The Thirteenth Warrior'.

Truly an interesting movie. To honestly review this movie is difficult as the movie was lucky to even be produced. Becuase of its limited budget, the effects are there but will leave you yawning more than anything else, and the acting is ok, but could have been better (or worse).

Still, understanding that the movie had almost everything working against it, it deserves to be given some slack. Besides, the story is one of the better movie plots I have seen in the past few years and the scenery is beautiful. Furthermore, the buildings are authentic to the time period and the movie leaves behind most historical fiction movies for historical accuracy.

Are there any good Viking movies? I don't think so but this is certanly the best I've seen. It's not a viking raid film, it's about vikings feuding with other vikings. It wont change your life, It's just a story, and a great way to pass some lazy time.

This film the is the most accurate I have seen about the Vikings. I did not notice any anachronisms. The actors were good, and the plot was good.

Within the space of a couple of days I watched both "A Viking Saga: Son of Thor" and "The Viking Sagas". Two very different films despite their similar titles. I am a fan and supporter of low budget historical films and these two films have a lot in common and yet at the same time, are very different. "A Viking Saga: Son of Thor" was done more as a minor educational film, they use that term "educational" a lot in their advertisements and after watching it, it seems more like something funded by a museum than a sincere attempt to do justice to the subject as a full-on adventure film. The film is centered around a longhouse recreation, perhaps the museum I suspect this was done for, and a small group of Viking re-enactors. Amazon's brief description is the whole movie; it is a very simple plot, with constant flashbacks to the attack on the young boy's village as the only major action in the film. The longships on the cover are not in the film, there are only two much smaller ships used for trading. The story is basically a Swedish one, with an emphasis on trading and the river routes down into what was later to be known as Russia. It is a very interesting aspect of Viking history, but unfortunately, it is handled in the most simplistic of ways. Even a die hard Viking fan like me will be hard pressed to appreciate this movie. The concept is excellent from a historical point of view; the execution however seemed to be done very simply and cheaply. I honestly cannot recommend this movie.

"The Viking Sagas" is very different. Not a big budget Hollywood historical epic, it still has a lot going for it. Shot entirely in Iceland, where the story takes place, it is a classic tale of revenge and reversal. The plot is very atypical and has some interesting and complex turns, and much of those are based on an actual history and on the Icelandic judicial system that does indeed go back to the Viking colonial days. I quickly found myself curious how it would play out, though there was no doubt our hero would triumph. The scenery is beautiful and stark and knowing a bit about Viking horses, the Icelandic ponies were a nice refreshing historical touch. The star is Ralf Moeller and he is fairly wooden and too muscle-bound for the untrained warrior he is supposed to be, but I can let that slide. To me, the "name" in this movie is Sven-Ole Thorsen, the "Swedish Champion" from Sam Raimi's "The Quick and the Dead". He shows up as a minor character or stunt actor in enough movies that he almost seems like a new Alan Hale Senior to me. His character is the archetypical "martial arts master" but he too has an interesting twist to him plot wise. This film is not epic, has some B-movie qualities, but if you like adventure films like that, then I suspect you will like this one.

What an inept pile of garbage. Horrible acting, directing, writing, music (by George Clinton?!) even the editing was pathetic! The only possible somewhat saving grace was the beautiful though badly acting girl who plays the female lead. Even that wasn't worth the suffering.