“Viking Wolf”
Movie Review
'Viking
Wolf,' directed by Stig Svendsen, is written by Espen Aukan and stars Liv
Mjones, Elli Rhiannon Muller Osborne, Arthur Hakalahti, and Sjur Vatne. Thale
(17) has just moved to a small town with her parents after her mother gets a
new job with the local police. Thale becomes a key witness after a student is
brutally murdered at a party she attends. Was the murderer an animal? A wolf?
For some
reason, the film was shot in silent mode, with a raiding party led by Grim
Gudbrand storming an abbey. The monks warn them against entering a locked room,
assuming it is full of treasure, and smashing down the door to find a snarling
red-eyed wolf cub. Of course, they bring it with them, and by the time their
longship returns home, it's the only thing alive on board. The little hellhound
leaps from the ship and vanishes into the woods.
The same
woods where seventeen-year-old Thale's (Elli Rhiannon Müller Osborne) friend
Jonas (Sjur Vatne Brean) has invited her to a party in the present day. The
party concludes with Thale and Jonas being injured by an animal and Elin (Silje
ksland Krohne), the mayor's daughter, missing.
Beyond the
prologue, the director and co-writer don't put much thought into Viking Wolf's
setup. Thale has only recently moved to Nybo and has few friends; her
relationship with her policewoman mother Liv (Liv Mjönes) has been strained
since her father died and her mother married Arthur (Vidar Magnussen). Jenny
(Mia Fosshaug Laubacher), her younger sister, is deaf and communicates through
sign language.
Thale only
needs a suspicious past to be the perfect suspect when more people are found
dead. Oh, wait, she has one. Viking Wolf continues on its familiar path with
the arrival of both William (Arthur Hakalahti), a wolf expert, and Lars (Stle
Bjrnhaug), a self-proclaimed werewolf expert. A creature is killed, but this
does not put an end to the killings, and so on.
All of this
plods along, accompanied by numerous shots of Norwegian scenery. It's all very
tedious and extremely slow-paced. I was already bored by the time the script began
ripping off An American Werewolf in London. The creature's attack on the police
hunting party is largely uninteresting due to the fact that the actual attacks
are kept offscreen. Worse, a later attack on a bus is cut almost as soon as it
begins, implying that the film defangs what should have been its major set
pieces, leaving only a brief attack at the end to provide excitement.
The
creature itself isn't particularly impressive, resembling a very large, very
ugly, and obviously CGI wolf. To complete the cycle of disappointment,
transformation effects are limited to a brief glimpse lasting approximately
thirty seconds.
Given how
good the script for Troll was, Viking Wolf is a major disappointment. Granted,
the decision on how to handle the attack scenes was made after the script was
written, but the lack of character development is a different story. The
elements for that development are all set up and then mostly ignored throughout
the film.
This means
that when the film attempts an emotional ending, it falls flat because we
aren't invested in anyone and aren't convinced of their connection.
Viking Wolf
had the potential to be entertaining, but it undercuts itself at every turn,
foregoing blood and thrills in exchange for characterization and emotion that the
script ultimately fails to deliver. There are a few good scenes in the film,
but they aren't worth sitting through the rest for.
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