Viking Destiny

Whoever said "don't believe the low reviews" must have watched a different movie. This isn't the worst movie you will ever have watched but it is still a bad movie. It reminded me of an episode of Star Trek the original series. Very low budget sets and costumes and a story that is as unbelievable as it is dull. Some of the fight scenes made you want to laugh out loud. It was like watching a mock Viking battle in the fields of York. I think most of the good reviews are from people who were swept away by the lead character. She was indeed a beauty and managed to stay looking perfect throughout the whole film, despite sleeping rough, running around the hills and forests and engaging in fights with men more than 3 times my size never mind hers!

This seems like a cheap knockoff of Game of Thrones (and it is) with nothing to recommend it, not even so bad its good... until... Queen Helle meets the hippies. Then it's a riot! Loved it: Monty Python meets Jackie Chan meets The A Team meets Game of Thrones.

Seriously...Why did they make this film if they only had $10 in the budget? The few people floating around in each scene look more like Monty Python than a modern action/adventure. Did the producers say "let's see how low on the film experience scale we can go before the audience notices?" but i digress. . .

WITH THAT SAID, I thought the premise was intriguing and the acting by Anna Demetriou (Helle) was very good. I did not recognize Terence Stamp (Odin) since I have not seen him act in anything since his magnificent portrayal of General Zod in the original "Superman." I know its been 40 years but the guy looks nothing like he used to......anyway.....

Plot elements had to move along rather quickly (from sex scene to marriage in about 5 sec..hmmm) most likely due to budget constraints. The area itself was nice but looks more like England than somewhere farther north. I would have loved to get to know the characters better and seen a more complicated story line had it been in the budget. Overall worth watching if there's nothing else on TV at 2 am.

This movie would have been great if the stuntmen and women were the main actors as well. The main actors were not convincing but the main fighting scenes with the doubles were very well done and convincing.

The film looked staged with lack of proper acting and spoiled the show. Perhaps a matter of too many cooks spoil the broth as the number of production houses involved in this movie was over the top and caused the film to flop. Hence many reviewers' negative feedback.

I've seen a lot worse and I think that this movie could have been a lot better if they had dropped the supernatural element. I enjoy Terrace Stamp who has an impressive voice and it saddened me to see him wasted as Odin. This could have been a great movie because it had a strong female lead, betrayal, intrigue and revenge. Instead, it relies on a bunch of villain clichés and over the top acting. Like I said, the elements were all there but they stumbled towards the endgame.