I Have No Idea What Just Happened... And That's Bad

There are a lot of movies out there. Some are great, many are good, a great many are bad and some just leave you wondering what the heck you just saw. Such is the case with my recent (chance) viewing of Valhalla Rising via Netflix On-Demand.

Written and directed by Danish filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn, Valhalla Rising stars Mads Mikkelsen (Casino Royale) in a quiet role. Literally – his character never utters a word. This is problematic because I, and the audience I viewed it with, still have no idea what the character's motivations were or why any of the events of the film actually happened. An important aspect of storytelling is the part wherein the audience is made aware of certain plot elements that serve to connect us with the characters and engage us with the story. This never happened in Valhalla Rising, replacing interest with confusion. In that sense, this film is sort of like those magic eye picture where if you stare at it long enough (or figure out how to relax your eyes' focus properly) you discover an image hidden within a seemingly meaningless swath of patterns and colors. The problem here is we saw the picture and don't know what it is.

The film's “setting” visuals are good, comprised of an endless stream of sweeping shots of what one might reasonably assume is a Nordic landscape; the cinematography gives it a very epic feel. Still, I am unsure as to where it actually takes place as that wasn't very clearly conveyed along with everything else. There are some brutal, but short, fight sequences and the rest is mostly a collection of close-up shots of weathered men staring off into the distance, pondering God-only-knows what. They do A LOT of that. Perhaps they too were wondering what was going on.

Here is what can easily be discerned from the film:

1. One-Eye (Mikkelsen) starts out as a slave who is forced to fight other slaves to the death. Is he really fueled by hate or just a will to escape his bondage? It remains uncertain, but a vision leads him to find an arrowhead which he uses to brutally kill his captors.

2. One-Eye and his boy companion come across a band of Christian crusaders who are headed to Jerusalem to fight for Christ. This is where you might think that this film might become like 13^th Warrior, and you would be wrong.

3. One-Eye, having joined this literal ship of fools, sets out with them for Jerusalem only to end up lost in a thick fog for an unspecified amount of time. It is during this time that one of the group, believing them to be cursed by One-Eye's companion, attempts to throw him overboard only to be brutally killed by One-Eye. No one else seems to bat an eye to this development and they continue.

4. They end up somewhere that is definitely not Jerusalem that we can only assume is North America due to the natives, collectively go crazy (one man rapes another in the mud) with the story (if you can call it that) culminating in One-Eye ultimately sacrificing himself to the natives in a beating that goes so smoothly it can be assume to have been pre-arranged. Why? I have no idea.

It is absolutely confounding how little information is actually conveyed, using motion picture no less! Is their journey supposed to be a metaphor for hell (juxtaposed against their intended quest for God?) Is is supposed to be a metaphor for life's journey? Is is a metaphor for self-discovery? One might easily assume that the meaning bestowed is entirely unique to the viewer, but there just aren't enough concrete bits of information to go on to even begin to form a reasonable assumption. Maybe if One-Eye would open his mouth even once and share at least some of his thoughts, we'd know. He does appear to be the only character who knows what is actually going on at any given time. But he never does. He only speaks with his eye and we are as lost as what can only be described as the most incompetent group of crusaders ever. EVER! Perhaps the audience is supposed to share somewhat in their madness, but that is total speculation on my part.

Equally frustrating is the Wikipedia entry for Valhalla Rising which offers no additional explanation whatsoever, but merely serves as a recap of the scenes of the film. Very insightful!

I will give credit to the film for being a (relatively) short 90 minutes. They could have dragged it on and on very easily I'm sure. Yet, how this film manages a 70% Fresh rating on RottenTomatoes is a true spectacle of wonderment to me and those I viewed it with.

In reflecting on Valhalla Rising, I conclude that as a film it is either the result of inadequate narrative style or extremely pretentious on the part of Refn. If the intent is to be an art film, maybe pretentious is the right word. If the intent is to be an interesting and engaging story, it is as incompetent as its character's, save One-Eye. Actual silent films communicate more than this one. I'd rate it, but I still don't know what I'm judging. ???

Reporting For Duty, Captain America Delivers

The parade of superhero movies rolls on in 2011 and now we have Captain America reporting for duty. Much like the first Iron Man, I found myself really having a good time at the movies. What can I say – Captain America does a lot of things right and it just didn't feel as “weighted” as say an X-Men movie where there is a lot of politics built in (mutants vs human, prejudice, etc.). The premise is simple, the effort solid and the result is fun.

Captain America is more or less a World War II movie with the comic book treatment and it works surprisingly well. I think it does work because the premise is not convoluted – America is at war and Steve Rodgers (Chris Evans), a young, scrawny, but well-intentioned man, wants to do his part. Unfortunately for Steve, he just isn't fit for duty as a soldier physically. However, that doesn't keep him to trying to enlist over and over again with different names and addresses. It also eats at him that his best friend is shipping out to fight in Europe without him.

Luckily for Steve, a government scientist happens to pick up on his zeal and realizes that he is an ideal candidate for testing a new top secret super-soldier serum because he respects power and is less prone to abuse it. Suddenly, and much to his surprise, Steve is accepted into the Army. Before long he finds himself in the lab ready for the experiment. They run the test and bam its work! Just like that, Steve is suddenly the perfect physical specimen of a soldier with superior speed, strength, agility and mental facets. However, the Germans (or more specifically their secret science division codenamed “Hydra”) had spies among them and in an attempt to sabotage the program and steal the formula, the serum's creator is shot dead leaving Steve as the only American super soldier. Feeling him too valuable to risk in combat, the Army decides to use him as a war bond pitchman and once again Steve finds himself on the sidelines much to his chagrin.

Meanwhile, Hydra, run by a Nazi scientist Dr. Schmidt (Hugo Weaving) has discovered the power of the gods hidden away in Norway (think Thor tie-in here) and are planning to use it against all nations who oppose them, including their bosses, the Nazis. So as it turns out, the super-soldier serum was the Allies' counter-punch and Schmidt himself was the recipient of an earlier, less stable version of the serum.

Long story short, it isn't long until Steve with the help of Agent Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) and Dr. Howard Stark (father of Iron Man, Tony Stark) that Steve sneaks out to conduct a rescue mission behind enemy lines without authorization in order to do his part in the war and prove his usefulness to his commander (Tommy Lee Jones). The mission is a rousing success and Steve quickly finds himself where he wanted to be all along - on the front lines. I won't spoil any more from here.

As I said, Captain America does a lot of things right. Director Joe Johnston was clearly the right choice for the job. The story is immediately accessible to a general audiences because the premise is simple and because they did a fantastic job presenting Steve Rodgers a relate-able everyman who is genuinely charismatic. They don't have to waste any time or effort driving home the point that “you need to like this guy.”

Now to the points of execution. The film is paced very well and doesn't have any segments that bog it down in needless exposition. It clocks in at a tidy 2 hours, 5 minutes. The editing room was used and in an era of seemingly longer and longer “blockbusters,” it was welcome relief. The casting was also superb! Evans is a good fit for Cap (and this role allows him to escape the Human Torch stigma from the Fantastic Four) and Hugo Weaving always make for an excellent villain. Atwell is paired well with Evans in the role of Peggy Carter as a romantic interest that isn't overplayed. Had it been played too heavy, it would have bogged down the story. Additionally, the movie uses comedy well, not using too much and timing it well and never coming across as overly cheesy (when it isn't intended).

The bottom line is this - Captain America is a solid comic book adaptation that is fun, lighthearted at times, action packed and never devolving into an unintended parody of itself. The latest addition to the superhero movie pantheon is a winner! 8/10