Erik the Viking (1989)

Sadly Over-hyped

Great Film overall

Excellent but underrated film

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

From Monty Python team member Terry Jones comes this mildly amusing spoof of Norse mythology, which he wrote and directed. Tim Robbins plays the title character, a young man who's brave enough to want to embark on an epic journey. He actually has the nerve to want to ask the gods to end the days of "Ragnarok" - basically, the end of the world. Several of his peers accompany him, and they have a variety of off the wall encounters as well as dangers to overcome.It's true that if you only look at this as a comedy, you might have a fairly entertaining time. But there's more going on here than silliness, as Jones explores ideas of belief and denial, and how power can come to those who believe. His serious themes are unexpected, but welcome. In truth, this viewer never found the comedy that funny. He even thought it just felt off at times. The fact that it works to any degree at all is due largely to an eclectic cast, who play their material for everything that it's worth. You've got a remarkably sincere Robbins, Mickey Rooney (as his grandfather) and Eartha Kitt in cameos, and such distinguished British thespians as Jones himself (who plays King Arnulf), John Cleese (who's great as always, playing nasty bad guy Halfdan the Black), Antony Sher, Charles McKeown, Tim McInnerny, Freddie Jones, and Jim Broadbent. You also get the very lovely Imogen Stubbs (as Jones' princess daughter) and Samantha Bond.Certainly a quality look is created for the movie, with lots of fine location work, atmosphere, and visuals. There's a rousing score by composer Neil Innes, and even an entertainingly shoddy looking "dragon".The ending is rather abrupt, but up until then Jones does deliver some chuckles and food for thought.Six out of 10.

American actor Tim Robbins plays young Erik, who comes about the shocking realisation of the few laudable aspects of the Viking lifestyle, and wants to change the image of the Vikings for the better, and sets off on a capricious journey conflated of erratically hit & miss satire, and overblown special effects.There are constant bursts of rapid fire dialogue to be found here, but honestly, lacks any real inspiration or inventiveness to be genuinely humorous, even if there may be the odd chuckle, you just sort of take it in the films loose strides. The production is admittedly quite smart, and the impressive set designs give you something interesting to absorb while one scene unravels itself after the other.Apart from this, only the cast inclusion of veteran Cleese manages to liven up the proceedings somewhat for his, albeit brief, appearance as an evil tyrant, but it's just not enough in order to give the buoyancy to float this leaky ship.

I guess I was expecting more of a pure comedy than a more of a serious note fantasy comedy when I first heard of 'Eric The Viking'. It certainly isn't a dead laughter, thought it has some bits that just make you to chuckle out loud.The style of the film resembles a bit of Terry Gilliams Jabberwocky, even the style of humour is a quite same, but this shouldn't be any surprise considering the power behind the film, which of course is Terry Jones of 'Monty Python' fame. Out of other Pythonites John Cleese pops in to do a small role as a baddie of the film.Eric (soft spoken Tim Robbins) is a viking, who questions his way of living: the pillaging, raping and killing. So he is set on a quest to enter Valhalla to wake the gods and end the age of Ragnarok, so that the sun might finally shine upon the frozen north and the people would stop killing each other. And of course on the way they stumble upon troubles and comedic situations.All things considering the film has some pretty good puns and even some of the scenery and special effects managed to impress me quite a bit. The biggest problem of the film would be the script, as it did cut corners out of the story quite a bit. But at least all the main things get out explained pretty well, so the film doesn't leave any questions hanging too loose in the air.

Seen as a poor relation to true-Python movies (even forgotten), it tells the tale of a young adventurous Viking, Erik, who sets out on a quest to find Asgard. Along with a selection of other Norsk villagers, they sail into the unknown, encounter a sea monster and stumble across the idyllic 'Hy-Brazil', a land ruled by King Arnulf (Director, Terry Jones) who keeps insisting that in the face of adversity "It's alright. It's not happening".The badness in this piece is care of Halfdan the Black (John Cleese) and delivered in typical Cleese fashion. Loki ((now) Sir Anthony Sher) plays to Halfdan as a crooked little stoolpigeon, only looking to improve his standing and possible gains.Sadly, no other members of the original Python team played a part in this film as, rumour has it, after the death of Graham Chapman (in October of 1989), the remaining Pythons. Gilliam, Palin and Idle, decided not to appear.Erik The Viking is a light comedy with occasional droplets of Python rain, gently falling about the story. Director, Terry Jones, relies on a pair of old-school character actors who number his and many Python films: John Scott Martin (Ingemund the Old) and Charles McKeown (Sven's Dad).Jones allowed his cast to keep their mother-tongues: Tim Robbins (Erik) and Mickey Rooney (Erik's Grandfather) keep their American drawls and John Gordon Sinclair (Ivar), his broad Scottish accent. One of the best interactions is between Ivar and Thorofinn, discussing seasickness aboard their boat and a welcome diversion comes in the shape of 28yr old Imogen Stubbs (Princess Aud).In the end, it's just a bit of fun and serves as a good 'hors d'oeuvre' to anyone who needs a gentle initiation into the world of Python.