A Viking Saga: Son of Thor (2008) Reviews

• A Viking Saga that looks like it's made by some viking fans in one weekend.

  ediestock2010-06-25

  Okay, so it's low budget and yes, there's going to be limits to what you can do if you haven't got the cash but here's a good example of a film that needed to reign in it's scope and give over it's meager budget to a script writer who could perhaps deliver a character based story instead of this over extended film. The story is a stock one of a hero who as a child witnesses their village being slaughtered, they grow up and you can guess the rest. It'll be familiar in fact to anyone who's seen Hrafninn flýgur (When The Raven Flies, 1984) but with more badly acted childhood scenes than your nearest school nativity play. In fact most casual viewers are going to be put off the film in the first twenty minutes because of the poor acting from the children in it - all except one child extra though, who during a camp fire story can be seen yawning and fidgeting as much as the audience probably is. Then you have some really, really bad sound dubbing. Some dialogue sounds like it was re-done with a tape recorder in a church hall, complete with echo and background hiss, then dubbed back over. So it's a low budget film and the maker's have rather cleverly used viking re-enactors in scenes such as the establishing shots of Kiev and the final climactic battle at the end. Unfortunately the costumes of the re-enactors, with all the proper kit they've got, actually shows up how basic the principal character's costumes are. Then there's the cutting in of the film's principal actors into the previously recorded re-enactors battle scenes. They used to make post- World War II fighter ace films by cutting shots of the actors in a cockpit in with real footage of an actual dogfight. That's a trick they've tried to do here with a re-enactment battle but it's so obvious thanks to the different lighting, camera style, grade of film and background scenery that it's almost comical. You can see the main characters alone in a frame slashing at nothing because they were no where near the actual re-enactment battle in the first place! So all in all it's not a great movie, even for an independent low budget one. Put it this way, if you've seen Severed Ways: The Norse Discovery of America (2007) and managed to get to the end of it you'll probably make it to the end of this film. Just don't expect a great viking experience.

• Oopsie

  natashabowiepinky2014-01-07

  It's only January, and already we have a candidate for worst film of the year. Let's get on with it shall we? The fi... 'thing' starts. Already, we're in trouble with ponderous narration amongst a flashback of the most horrible child actors ever. This not only goes on FOREVER, but we return to it throughout. How nice. One of these kids in particular is trying to sound Scandavian, but to hear him you'd think he needs his sinuses cleaning out. There is much talk of a HUGE battle that wiped their families out, but we never see it. Believe me, this is a blessing in disguise when you witness what happens later on. Instead, we have a lot of BLAH about what it means to be a Viking, and more chances to show how one fi... 'thing' can bore us senseless. Then we flash forward 10 years. If you thought the kids were bad actors, wait til you see them as adults. The action deteriorates even more. The dialogue. Oh, the dialogue. One of the many gems.... MAN: "The lands to the east are fertile." COMELY LASS: "As am I." MY EARS!! This is one of the better exchanges, believe it or not. The fact they can keep a straight face while spouting this garbage is FAR more impressive than their non-existent performances. If you haven't already turned off (Or if you're too stunned at the sheer dreadfulness of what is transpiring) then get prepared for a whole lot of nothing. No fights. No conflicts. Just loadsa waffling about nothing. At all. With every minute that passes, you feel your brain packing it's bags, ready for a lloonngg vacation. We get a sequence involving 'sexy' dancers wearing suspiciously modern looking costumes. Dancing, though? All they do is gyrate their hips. And one of them is BLACK. I don't quite know my history books, but I'm quite sure that ethnicity did not exist in that region back then. Then again, neither did boob jobs... And then AT LAST we get THE BIG CLASH between two opposing sides. The only clash. 10 minutes from the end. Be careful what you wish for. What. The. Heck. One group attacks with night in the background, in the other's point of view it's as bright as day. And they're not brawling, they're just banging their weapons together... while making overexaggerated dives onto the floor. And don't get me started on the laughable computer generated arrows... Oh, I could carry on. The jerky camera-work, the cheap, cheap sets, the editing which was done with a hacksaw... but I won't. All I'll do is throw the DVD down a hole, place a garland of flowers on top before shaking my head sadly and walking away. It never stood a chance. 0/10

• The worst movie I have ever seen

  madsherman2009-01-03

  The music is bad, the acting is below par, I can't tell the dubbed voice of the main character from his internal dialogue and the storyboarding is horrible. Not to mention the special effects and props and costumes. The very LEAST the director could do was to remove the bar-code sticker from the supply-store bought axe Helgi throws at the tree. You'd think that the director has never seen a film in his life let alone studied any cinematic or storytelling techniques in order to prepare for creating this one. I give this film one star, because it is simply the worst film I haver ever seen. I judge my films from what I have seen so far and I don't really let budgets interfere with my opinion. Because you have less money to make a film, you should focus on what is actually possible to do WITHIN the budget.

• Pathetic !!!

  rain_x_tiger2009-09-18

  This movie isn't the way it's poster shows, and I assure you that if you don't consider my comment as a friendly warning then you'll feel very sorry after or even before finishing this movie. Those who have written good comments about this movie doesn't know about the real sense of what is called a movie at all. Despite of it's cheapness, actors are so pathetic specially the children - They have successfully put this movie in entire mess from the very beginning. It has a very bad choreography, bad make-up, the brave uncle got a funny mustache that doesn't appear to be true. If you can't make it look real then why bother to have one? It was plainly better without it. This an ultimate insult to the audience.

• Avoid like the plague

  ivorcogdell2014-08-08

  Admittedly, this was an impulse buy for me, a case of nice cover, I'll risk it. Unfortunately, this risk did not pay off. Reading other reviews, I find it was filmed in two weeks on a low budget - IT SHOWS ! Pathetic wannabe of an action film. A story that could have given wings, BUT too many daydreams / flashbacks, not enough budget to do the job. Quote "Nominated for best picture at seven film festivals", well I'm glad I did not have to sit through the others. The only "scrap" is right at the end,you cannot call it a battle, its appalling. But, to be fair, at least they did not have pointy headgear. This does not deserve a Viking funeral, it is not worth the materials it is made out of. To coin a phrase, "Run for the hills" if you see this coming to a DVD player near you.