Excellent but underrated film

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Unfortunately the most exciting views of the landscape is ruined by the participation of the actors and the history falsifying equipment. Starting with a low-D whistle tune while the movie shows a penny whistle, actors, some with modern hair cuts running around in an incomprehensible story with bare armed biker leather outfits and round ringed unriveted or knitted and silver painted "chainmail", wielding fantasy weapons, screaming while performing most epic moves and spins in a very obvious fighting choreography.Hahah, they even used that round ringed unriveted chain as a mosquito net.Had they omitted all humans, this movie would have been worth watching.

Relaxing in front of the TV with nothing to do I came across this little movie that someone appears to have vomited into existence. The cinematography is actually pretty good, the score is OK in parts but a bit OTT in others, costumes are passable, even the script is OK. It all falls apart on the story and the acting.1. Actors - Yep, a collection of guys from the pub with the barmaid thrown in all happy to give making a movie a punt.The lead with his 2012 haircut consisting of perfectly clipper-ed sides, squared sideburns, layered top cut and hair gel - completely consistent with an 800AD Viking prince. He just cannot carry this part. Does not have the screen presence to make it seem credible. It looks acted. It looks like he's copying the clichés. You just don't get a feeling that he is this guy at all, he's just playing him the way other z movie actors have done.Grim - Yes that is the name of this character. You might perhaps have seen a comparable performance on the football terraces at Milwall. Short stumpy guy with an axe, screaming and hacking at people, charging into fights like a yob, just gives no sense of the reality of 800AD warfare. No character development, just one of the pub crowd playing a Viking as a football thug. I was glad when this character died.As for the rest, Hagan was pretty good (infact he seemed the most credible of all the cast), the rest very forgettable.2. The story - well, lets just say its a bit silly. There isn't much of a story. Prince goes looking for his brother as king lays dying. Cue chance to see the pub acting team go wandering across what looks like Wales having a Viking slaughter fest every few minutes.Right from the get go it is cliché. Vikings coming out of the mist. They meet a band of Saxons and kill all of them without losing any of their own. Cue shots of the main characters chopping down, one, then two, then three of the throw away Saxon non entities. Cool, we've established that these Viking guys from the pub can sort of swing a sword and that they are fighting the local blind, drunk, deaf crowd from the nearby hospice that only attack one by one.With the hospice Saxons now dead, the pub Vikings can growl and make silly smiles then head off to find the wounded king.Gosh, I can't say much more but this movie other than for the cast to put this on your CV/resume probably has the same career potential of a skid mark down the page.

So it may not be historically accurate in any manner (who casted the black guy anyway?), but I was entertained. The scenery was great, the acting good enough, the violence and humor was rough like I imagine it was back in the viking era. Unlike "Valhalla Rising" this had a decent ending. I liked that Hakan looked like a well known actor from the old days (you'll probably know when you see him), it gave the film another dimension to me.Another reviewer says "the ridiculous tents they used were hilarious to say the least". Well Google "viking tent" and you'll see that they we're pretty much like that. I've also seen tents like that in viking camps in Norway.

I have know idea why there are so many negative reviews of this movie. I found it to be very entertaining. I was not looking for a history lesson, and things did not need to be historically accurate. The movie was suspenseful and had a horror flick feel to it. If you want historically correct films of vikings then watch public broadcasting or go to the library. Anyone who gives this movie a bad rating because it is not "Correct," should have not been able to submit a review, because of their anal-retentiveness! If you read my, and others reviews, who have given this movie a good rating then watch it for its entertainment value and not to nit-pick it for perfect historically correctness!