Hammer of the Gods

I'm being generous with a 5 here. This is pretty much a movie for a fan of the genre, the actors aren't too bad and actually pop up in the superior Vikings TV show which is superior in not only looks, but acting, storyline and authenticity. If you liked that series then this is a mildly entertaining diversion. The actual movie kind of belies it's silly intro with characters names splashing across the screen like some kind of video game. It actually becomes a lot darker and issues such as religion and power crop up. This is why I ended up giving it a 5 because by the end of the movie I was quite surprised. the movie kind of grew in itself rather than falling flat.

In 870 AD, in Britain, the Vikings under the leadership of King Bagsecg (James Cosmo) are in war against the Saxons. When he is mortally wounded in a battle, he summons his younger son, Prince Steinar (Charlie Bewley), to meet his to other sons Harald (Finlay Robertson) and Vali (Theo Barklem-Biggs) at his death bed. King Bagsecg asks to Stainar to seek out his missing brother Hakan the Ferrocious (Elliot Cowan) to return with the next king of his people. Stainer travels with his friends Hagen (Clive Standen), Grim (Michael Jibson) and Jokul (Guy Flanagan) and his half-brother Vali to search the warrior Ivar (Ivan Kaye) that might know the whereabouts of Hakan. When they meet Ivar, he joins the group with his mate Agnes (Alexandra Dowling) in a brutal journey to hell.

"Hammer of the Gods" is a weird and violent movie about the quest of a young prince to find his older brother that has been expelled from the kingdom by his father. His unexpected discovery of the truth about his family changes his behavior. Unfortunately the movie is too brutal and the choreography of the gore battle scenes is very poor with successive cuts and very few warrior due to the low-budget. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Martelo dos Deuses" ("Hammer of the Gods")

I tried to like "Hammer of the gods", tried really hard. But it reminded me of a bad version of the excellent series Vikings, having none of what is good about it.

No character is developed enough, the action feels cheap and forced. Focus is lost constantly throughout the movie , and the story lacks cohesion. Violence serves no purpose, it is uninspired and dull , even disturbing at times. It is very disappointing to see a classic story and a chance for something good , wasted as much.

Acting is not so bad, I kinda liked Eliot Cowan (Hakan) and Clive Standen (Hagen) whose role is the same as in Vikings, and hes rather good at it. The rest felt direction-less and anemic.

They should have copied Vikings more.

The main sense that I drew from the film from that start was how forced it all felt. Nothing seemed to really flow together correctly.

This all stems from the fact that, with this time period being underused in films, it never gives an accurate representation of what it was actually like.

The combat was obviously all Hollywood with no correct fighting styles. the clothing that they were are completely impractical with all the sleeveless tops in freezing weather.

The one relieving factor in the whole movie would have to be James Cosmos who I feel is a great actor.

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.