The Viking Sagas (1995)

That was an excellent one.

Lack of good storyline.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

I was stunned to read some of the positive reviews about this movie. Not to be a fly in the ointment but this movie was absolutely horrendous. The director, Michael Chapman, tries to follow the script of the Icelandic sagas, which is an impossible task to achieve without thoroughly boring an audience, so the characters are left spouting meaningless lines like "I am..(pause for dramatic effect) Gunnar" instead of the more realistic (but infinitely more boring) "I am so-and-so, son of Eilif, grandson of Torkjell, 2nd cousin to Hallgeir Bloody Tooth, 4th brother-in-law twice removed to Helgi the Red, who defeated your great-grandmother in battle." Chapman goes out of his way to employ a largely Icelandic cast but then fails to get any advice from them on how to pronounce the character's names, which doesn't help the intended realism.Okay, so maybe sticking to the Eddas and the Sagas wouldn't make for exciting cinema but instead of fleshing out the characters and making them people we can relate to Chapman makes them stereotypical and one-dimensional. The audience is led to believe the Vikings are overly macho brutes who take killing very lightly and seldom think of anything other than upholding their honor and obtaining bloody revenge.The hero, Kjartan (Ralf "Terminator" Moeller), mostly grunts, flexes his muscles and speaks in a strong German accent about how he's going to "awenge his fatter". The training scene with Gunnar is another perfect example of the hideous dialogue throughout the movie. "Go ahead and kill me," is Gunnar's introduction to their first swordfighting lesson. "I don't vant to kill you," answers Arnold (er, Kjartan) and the two predictably end up bonding after Gunnar's spear nearly shaves several inches off our hero's manhood.There are some redeeming moments in the film: the Icelandic scenery is stunning and there are several scenes where the characters chase each other over raging streams on 5-ft. tall Shetland ponies. Ingebjorg Stefansdottir's breasts are stunning and for a "virgin" she wastes no time in showing our hero how grateful she is by climbing on top of him, which she does frequently and gratuitously throughout the movie. The two have sex wherever they can find a warm, hot spring and manage to fall deeply in love without ever having to enter into any conversation.The final battle scene though is the movie's shining moment in time: the Icelandic minstrels start playing Scottish bagpipe brogues and Kjartan mistakenly grabs the wrong prop - a circular Roman shield from the "Gladiator" set and embraces Ketil in a struggle to the death. Our hero emerges victorious when the evil villain's axe bounces off his chest and he shouts out the memorable and oft-repeated line "Vatter, I have awenged you!" Not to be outdone (his union contract called for him to have the final say), Ketil continues to egg on his enemy for a full 5 seconds after being decapitated before realizing he lacks vocal cords.

This film is GREAT. If you're a viking-phile, you'll love it. Lkewise if you simply appreciate gritty, realistic conflict on rugged scenery.Basic story: Medieval Iceland's ruling classes are in a bit of an uproar. They're also suffering the transition from warrior culture to a less violent, agrarian lifestyle (that includes fishing). The laws and democracy that rule the land are jeopardized by a possible coup. One man (played superbly by Ralf Moller) - sadly the son of a warrior-turned farmer - is prophesied to restore order. But he can't do it without first being taught the skills of battle by a middle- aged outlaw (played equally superbly by Sven Ole-Thorsen).Had this film been done in Iclelandic - and kept its original title "The Icelandic Sagas," it would've been shown at art-houses in all the big cities and possibly garnered an academy award for best foreign language film. In English, since all the actors have accents, it might appear as a barbarian free-for-all at first glance. It is nothing of the sort: The attention to costumes, weapons, makeup, dialog all come from the ancient tradition of epic Hollywood film-making. The acting is excellent. There's nothing tongue-in-cheek about the dialog, so everyone plays their parts seriously. Sven-Ole Thorsen is as if the producers found a time machine and simply went back to film an Icelandic feud between adjacent landowners. Ralf Moller proves himself once again a fine talent. Everyone, of course, remembers Sven and Ralf's performances in "Gladiator," right? Ingibjörg Stefánsdóttir - she, too, comes off as though the producers filmed her from the time machine.P.S.: It's sad what's said about the new film with Ralf Moeller, "Pathfinder." Apparently the actors playing "vikings" wore horned helmets (come on, already; they didn't in "Erik the Viking," why should they in a "serious" movie?) and shoulder pads. Shoulder pads? Come on! Ralf Moller and Clancy Brown don't need no stinkin' shoulder pads. "The Viking Sagas" wasn't filmed with shoulder pads! Sven-Ole Thorsen and Ralf Moller grew their own! See this film, it is art and well worth whatever you pay to see it.

I disagree with the people who consider this movie "worthless." It is the only historically approximate depictions of life in medieval Iceland (or, "viking age" life at all!) that I have ever seen. While their actions may seem "silly" to most viewers, the characters in this movie act appropriately to the ethics and customs of the time. In a nutshell, the movie is realistic, well-acted, and has gorgeous Icelandic landscapes. The film even uses mostly Icelandic and Norwegian actors who *look* like the characters would have. A viewer used to trashy Hollywood-churned movies may not appreciate this film.

I cannot believe that anyone interested in this type of genre would not indeed love this film. To start with yes there are inconsistencies, but so what! I see that type of thing in just about every movie or book... The music for this film is fantastic... if you are not moved by this music you are indeed void of any emotion. The story is a simple one. A father wishes a better life for his son and then his son is dragged into a life the father wanted no part of. The son meets an ally of the father and this ally took another road to further the correctness of the father's decision. The hero then meets a family going through much the same thing as he and his family and they are faced with the same dilema. Then it is the clash of good vs. evil. With good winning out in the end! Besides great music, the costumes are truly awesome ( different from any other of these types of movies)the sets are gorgeous, the acting is never over the top and there are no stupid one liners!! I really didn't care too much for the swords...the leading lady was someone that you could believe people would fight for she was very beautiful and sexy.I recommend this movie to everyone I talk to that is into this type of genre. I wish that there was a continuation of the story.