Valhalla Rising

2010 1h 33m EN

😐

6.1

MID

★6.1TMDB · 1,382

AdventureDramaActionFantasy

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Scandinavia, 1,000 AD. For years, One Eye, a mute warrior of supernatural strength, has been held prisoner by the Norse chieftain Barde. Aided by Are, a boy slave, One Eye slays his captor and together he and Are escape, beginning a journey into the heart of darkness. On their flight, One Eye and Are board a Viking vessel, but the ship is soon engulfed by an endless fog that clears only as the crew sights an unknown land. As the new world reveals its secrets and the Vikings confront their terrible and bloody fate, One Eye discovers his true self.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Cast

Mads Mikkelsen
One-Eye
Gary Lewis
Kare
Jamie Sives
Gorm
Ewan Stewart
Eirik
Alexander Morton
Barde
Callum Mitchell
Pagan Viking Guard
Andrew Flanagan
Duggal
Douglas Russell
Olaf

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Writers: Nicolas Winding Refn, Roy Jacobsen
Languages: English
Countries: Denmark, United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 1% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 16 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: Denmark, United Kingdom.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, shot by Morten Søborg. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Peter Peter. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Matthew Newman shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Mads Mikkelsen and Gary Lewis and Jamie Sives carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0862467 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Nicolas Winding Refn directs. Morten Søborg behind the camera. Peter Peter scores. Matthew Newman cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in Denmark, United Kingdom. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Earned back only 1% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
2Released 16 years ago.
3International production across 2 countries: Denmark, United Kingdom.
4Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, shot by Morten Søborg. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Peter Peter. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Matthew Newman shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Mads Mikkelsen and Gary Lewis and Jamie Sives carry the top of the cast.
8IMDB entry: tt0862467 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 16 themes, including "escape", "hell", "mythology", "surreal".

The technical file

Cinematography: Morten Søborg
Original score: Peter Peter
Editing: Matthew Newman
Production design: Laurel Wear
Costume design: Gill Horn
Makeup / hair: Maxine Dallas
Sound: Giles Lamb
Runtime: 93 min · 1h 33m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $5,650,000
Box office: $31,000
Return: 1% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: Valhalla Rising (2010)

Also by

Nicolas Winding Refn

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Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2014-06-03
★ 3/10
It never manages to rise above its one trick. Nicolas Winding Refn directs and Mads Mikkelsen stars in this ponderous exercise in arty veneers. Refn boldly strips back the dialogue and plot to reveal a picture big on ideas but poor in execution. As the story plods along, stopping only briefly for some guttural violence now and then, it becomes evident that the makers have made a painfully boring movie. At first the drained out colour photography looks like a masterstroke of ethereal atmospherics, but this also wears off and only compounds the overall feeling of monotony that pervades the pic. Hugely disappointing venture from a director capable of so much more. 3/10
Wuchak2018-05-06
★ 7/10
Twilight of the grim, grey… um… RELEASED IN 2009 and directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, "Valhalla Rising” takes place in the 11th century where a one-eyed mute thrall (Mads Mikkelsen) obtains his freedom in the Scottish Highlands and joins a band of Viking Christians on a voyage to the Holy Land to fight in the Crusades, but the expedition doesn’t go as planned. The movie definitely LOOKS and SOUNDS awesome with an ambient score reminiscent of Agalloch, but without the heavy riffing or manic drumming. It’s an artsy non-blockbuster with a tone akin to "Aguirre, The Wrath of God" (1972) and "Black Robe" (1991). “Apocalypto” (2006) is a good modern comparison, although the story isn't as compelling as “Black Robe” or “Apocalypto.” It has elements of “Apocalypse Now” (1979) but the thin story just isn’t anywhere near as fascinating. Still, it’s okay. There are some weak points, like the Viking chief saying "It's a river" when this would've been obvious about an hour earlier when the mist first cleared (aduh). I'm sure the director would chalk it up to artistic license. Another issue is that the film is slow with not enough events to justify its runtime. As such, we get needlessly drawn-out scenes like the discovery of fresh water (which was obvious from the get-go of the sequence). The whole episode could’ve been done in a third of the time given. THE MOVIE RUNS 1 hour, 33 minutes and was shot in Scotland. WRITERS: Refn, Roy Jacobsen and Matthew Read. GRADE: B INTERPRETATION SPOILER ALERT (Don’t read further unless you’ve seen the movie). The silent One-Eye is the incarnation of Odin. He is invincible and holds the power to see the future. He disdains the Christian Vikings who’ve usurped his influence over his people. He tests many in battle to see if they’re worthy, but finds none. Nevertheless, he sullenly sees his people off to their new (holy) land, America, where Scandinavians were the third most numerous immigrants. The Boy is a type of Thor, his son, who will sort of replace him in America once the grim god ironically sacrifices himself à la Jesus Christ.
r96sk2023-10-08
★ 4/10
Rubbish! A true waste of 90 minutes... and of Mads Mikkelsen! It evidently attempts similar as to what we would later see in 2022 with (the excellent) <em>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/film/the-northman/" rel="nofollow">The Northman</a>'</em>, though simply falls flat in every department for me. The whole production just looks so cheap and low-budget (which it wasn't), without even noting the (admittedly intended) pure misery of the look of it all too. Editing, notably with the needless chapter breaks, is also a negative. As mentioned already, a mute Mikkelsen is completedly wasted... may as well have cast Joe Bloggs. The rest of the cast have very little to work with either, though minutely interesting to see Gary Lewis and Jamie Sives involved. I wouldn't say anyone onscreen deteriorates the film (it does so itself), but they also don't do anything to improve it either. I was anticipating <em>'Valhalla Rising'</em> to be an entertaining one. It wasn't. Thankfully they had the awareness (or were restricted?) in keeping it 'short' at 90 minutes... a dreary 90mins, albeit.