Review by Ben Bussey
In opening, a note on title changes. Though the DVD artwork bears the title Ragnarok: The Viking Apocalypse, this film was released in its native Norway as Gåten Ragnarok (which I gather essentially translates as The Riddle of Ragnarok), and in the opening titles it is dubbed simply Ragnarok. It’s of course not remotely uncommon for films to reach UK shelves with a new title, particularly if the original title is in a foreign language, but this one seems particularly arbitrary, not to mention rather misleading. First off, it’s not as if the term Ragnarok is completely unheard of; most of us in Britain have seen at least one of the Thor movies, for crying out loud, so I really doubt that explanatory subtitle is needed. And, of course, it’s misleading because this is in no way an apocalyptic movie, nor do the Vikings feature too prominently beyond a brief prologue scene and a couple of flashbacks. Instead, this a contemporary survivalist adventure with heavy overtones of Spielberg, in which a group of courageous if somewhat naive explorers venture out to a remote woodland island in search of historical artifacts and/or treasure – only to find themselves in the lair of an almighty beast.
It’s been interesting to see how, little by little, Norway seems to be establishing itself as a real player in genre filmmaking in the last five years or so, notably with the international success of Dead Snow and Troll Hunter; movies which owe a great deal to Hollywood, but bring a uniquely Nordic sensibility, thanks not only to the country’s striking scenery but also its distinct folklore. Ragnarok, with its dragons and Vikings, very much continues down that path, but the results here are a fair bit more family friendly, and wind up maybe a little too Americanised in tone and content. The publicity in the run-up to the UK DVD release has dwelled heavily on the echoes of Jurassic Park, and these are indeed very much in evidence from the beginning, along with other tropes familiar from the likes of Stargate. Indeed, it all feels so familiar that really the only thing that makes Ragnarok stand apart is – well – the fact that it’s a Norwegian film.
Struggling archeologist single father Sigurd (Pål Sverre Hagen, who at times looks uncannily like a bearded Jennifer Anniston) has a wild theory that no one will believe: that the Vikings travelled up to Finnmark, Norway’s northernmost point, further than previously believed – and that the myth of Ragnarok was in some way inspired by actual real-life events. Investors laugh at him, the museum curator is embarrassed by him, and even his own kids seem to think he’s a joke. The one person backing Sigurd up is his buddy Allan (Nicolai Cleve Broch), who has found a curious artefact which seems to point the way to a potential jackpot of Viking archeology on a small, remote woodland island – and that’s just where they head out, with Sigurd’s kids in tow, plus assistant Elisabeth (Sofia Helin). I think you’ve already got some idea of what they find.
So, a couple of adults and kids in a remote wilderness in grave danger from a giant monster or two – yep, the Jurassic Park influence is readily apparent. There’s also more than a hint of Jaws about it too, given that the monster is typically hinted at rather than shown, the camera often cutting away or pulling back just as it threatens to rear its massive head. We can but assume this move has more to do with budgetary concerns than anything else – FX work ain’t cheap, obviously – but as impressive as the creature is (and at least partially practical from the look of things), it does get a bit frustrating how little we get to see of it. Still, there’s plenty of other stuff going on to stimulate the senses, with the group having to traverse caverns, zip-wire across a river, and trek through a whole lot of that eye-catching Norwegian scenery we were talking about. It’s all very nice, but it might have been a bit nicer had it been more than window dressing on a story which, ultimately, we’ve been told a great many times before, and better than this.
Still, Ragnarok is well-paced, pretty well-acted, boasts a cool monster and has some fairly exciting moments, so if you’re after a reasonably family-friendly fantasy adventure that isn’t just the latest Hollywood blockbuster, then you could certainly do worse. Whether you’ll find it particularly memorable or have any great desire to revisit it is another matter entirely – but again, it’s nice to see Norwegian genre cinema continuing to make waves beyond its own shores.
Ragnarok: The Viking Apocalypse comes to Region 2 DVD on 2nd February 2015, from Studiocanal.