Just before his mainstream commercial breakthru with DRIVE/’11, Nicolas Winding Refn indulged himself with a thinking-man’s actioner fit for an art-house, loaded with gory contemplative savagery as mighty manslave Mads Mikkelsen takes on all comers, a tethered fighting cock in some Northern Medieval world of paganism, early Christianity and not a female in sight. (How the race hadn’t died off a mystery.) MM makes this testosterone-loaded Perils of Paul about as believable as any one could: escaping his bounds; killing his handlers; joining a Jerusalem-bound gang of apostles with his scruffy young helpmate. (MM speaketh not; youngster communicates as needed.) But on a directionless boat caught in uncharted mists, the Holy Land looks more ephemeral than ever. And by the time sweet water appears to save them, the crew is largely convinced Mads is a cursed spirit who’s brought them to Hell. Perhaps he has. Refn loads on ominous, painterly visuals to diminishing effect, and there’s little to do but wait for the next gory outbreak. If only the situation (you couldn’t call it a narrative) were as involving as Refn imagines. Alas, the film is meticulously uninteresting.
WATCH THIS, NOT THAT/LINK: This NWR agnostic suggests the poorly received DRIVE followup, ONLY GOD FORGIVES/’13 (a better title for this than VALHALLA RISING) instead of his ‘successes.’ https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2021/08/only-god-forgives-2013.html
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