Most of what was good about this story was completely ruined by poor direction from Marcus Nispel (director of The Very Best of Cher...if that tells you anything) and really wretched editing. From beginning to end, Marcus Nispel's drudgingly slow, poorly lighted work falls short on every opportunity to make either an artful movie, an action flick, or a dramatic film. Sadly, Nispel seemed to be going for the trinity without the experience or know-how to realize any one of the three.
Throughout the film, none of the actors were given the dialogue or development necessary to bring their characters to life, so instead they simply drudge through the film merely hoping to reach the end...much like the audience. Any of the characters that could have been likable were virtually silenced and rushed in and out of their screen-time to make way for the barrage of extensively slow fight scenes. Unfortunately for the audience, Nispel seemed to love using the slow motion action sequence to an extremely unhealthy, nearly torturous degree.
Consider, movie-lovers and would-be-directors, that the following points would have made the film so much better:
1.) First, this film should have been brighter and more colorful in the emotional scenes, playing on the beauty of North America's forest lands (something akin to Last of the Mohicans). Instead, Nispel chose the constant dark din of an evil rain forest from Tim Burton's nightmares. It is understandable why Nispel did it, trying to convey the idea that this was a dark time for the peaceful, nature-loving Native Americans. But truthfully, even Burton would have favored some brightness and color over the constant bleakness.
2.) Most of the action scenes should have run in real time like Jet Li's "Fist of Legend", or been sped up to have a harried urgency like Ridley Scott's "Gladiator" or the Jason Bourne flicks. More importantly, get rid of all the rehashed slow-motion stealth shots stolen from Stallone's "Rambo", Schwarzenegger's "Conan", and Norris's "Missing In Action" films. Those scenes have been done to death in modern movies! ***Note to all would-be-action-directors: Nothing makes the predictability of a crappy film more obvious than unimaginative action scenes stolen from bad action flicks.***
3.) The characters should have been given more dialogue and an actual range of emotions, including supporting characters such as Jay Tavare's Blackwing and Nicole Munoz's Little Sister. We are never given the chance to care about these characters, so we never give a hoot about what happens to them, even though their roles are integral to the impact of the story.
4.) The introduction of Ghost (Karl Urban) as an adult should have included at least five to ten extra minutes of his life within his own tribe, (before the onset of the Viking antagonists) for character development and emotional attachment to his adopted family. Without this, we again find ourselves not caring about important pieces of the story.
5.) And finally, the Viking lords Gunnar (Clancy Brown) and Ulfar (Ralph Moeller) should have been given greater scope, so that they could be depicted as both incredible warriors and truly despicable beasts. We should be begging for them to die, yet admiring them for being truly impressive bad-ass bastards. Instead, they come off as no more frightening than Skeletor and the Shredder of the He-Man and Ninja Turtles cartoons, respectively. In the end, we feel cheated; especially considering that Brown has previously shown that he has the chops for playing versatile bad guys.
All in all, this film looked bad, played worse, and stank of skunk-beer-and-stale-popcorn vomit the whole way through, courtesy of one truly bad director. Unless the "Alice" project with Sarah Michelle Gellar comes away with an Oscar and the title of Highest Grossing Film of 2008, Nispel looks like he'll be joining the ranks of crap action directors like Uwe Boll, Renny Harlin, and Rob Bowman.
***Note to all of the good and gentle Buffy fans: Pray for Gellar. She'll need it.***
Throughout the film, none of the actors were given the dialogue or development necessary to bring their characters to life, so instead they simply drudge through the film merely hoping to reach the end...much like the audience. Any of the characters that could have been likable were virtually silenced and rushed in and out of their screen-time to make way for the barrage of extensively slow fight scenes. Unfortunately for the audience, Nispel seemed to love using the slow motion action sequence to an extremely unhealthy, nearly torturous degree.
Consider, movie-lovers and would-be-directors, that the following points would have made the film so much better:
1.) First, this film should have been brighter and more colorful in the emotional scenes, playing on the beauty of North America's forest lands (something akin to Last of the Mohicans). Instead, Nispel chose the constant dark din of an evil rain forest from Tim Burton's nightmares. It is understandable why Nispel did it, trying to convey the idea that this was a dark time for the peaceful, nature-loving Native Americans. But truthfully, even Burton would have favored some brightness and color over the constant bleakness.
2.) Most of the action scenes should have run in real time like Jet Li's "Fist of Legend", or been sped up to have a harried urgency like Ridley Scott's "Gladiator" or the Jason Bourne flicks. More importantly, get rid of all the rehashed slow-motion stealth shots stolen from Stallone's "Rambo", Schwarzenegger's "Conan", and Norris's "Missing In Action" films. Those scenes have been done to death in modern movies! ***Note to all would-be-action-directors: Nothing makes the predictability of a crappy film more obvious than unimaginative action scenes stolen from bad action flicks.***
3.) The characters should have been given more dialogue and an actual range of emotions, including supporting characters such as Jay Tavare's Blackwing and Nicole Munoz's Little Sister. We are never given the chance to care about these characters, so we never give a hoot about what happens to them, even though their roles are integral to the impact of the story.
4.) The introduction of Ghost (Karl Urban) as an adult should have included at least five to ten extra minutes of his life within his own tribe, (before the onset of the Viking antagonists) for character development and emotional attachment to his adopted family. Without this, we again find ourselves not caring about important pieces of the story.
5.) And finally, the Viking lords Gunnar (Clancy Brown) and Ulfar (Ralph Moeller) should have been given greater scope, so that they could be depicted as both incredible warriors and truly despicable beasts. We should be begging for them to die, yet admiring them for being truly impressive bad-ass bastards. Instead, they come off as no more frightening than Skeletor and the Shredder of the He-Man and Ninja Turtles cartoons, respectively. In the end, we feel cheated; especially considering that Brown has previously shown that he has the chops for playing versatile bad guys.
All in all, this film looked bad, played worse, and stank of skunk-beer-and-stale-popcorn vomit the whole way through, courtesy of one truly bad director. Unless the "Alice" project with Sarah Michelle Gellar comes away with an Oscar and the title of Highest Grossing Film of 2008, Nispel looks like he'll be joining the ranks of crap action directors like Uwe Boll, Renny Harlin, and Rob Bowman.
***Note to all of the good and gentle Buffy fans: Pray for Gellar. She'll need it.***