Erik the Viking
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Movie Reviews of Erik the Viking
Movie Review: A fun film for Viking fans!
Summary: 3 Stars
No, I'm not referring to my favorite football team but rather those swarthy heathens who reeked HAVOC on the world centuries ago. Anyone "into" the Viking culture, like myself, will be surprised by the accuracy of the portrayal of the Norsemen's culture in this comedy piece. Set decoration, costuming, terrain, etc. are perfect. With a diverse cast including the likes of Tim Robbins (in the title role), Mickey Rooney, John Cleese and others it's a pretty decent little film. A bit Monty Pythonish, but ex-Python Terry Jones wrote and directed it from the book. Not a bad little film.Movie Review: Erik the Viking
Summary: 3 Stars
I was personally disappointed in the excess of editing in this version. More than one scene is now missing some rather funny material. The movie still works, though, and this DVD is a fine addition to my collection.Movie Review: The cruellest cut...
Summary: 2 Stars
After a run of box-office successes culminating in A Fish Called Wanda, the Monty Python alumni hit the rocks in a big way in the late 80s, first with Terry Gilliam's hugely expensive box-office disaster The Adventures of Baron Munchausen and Terry Jones' rather less expensive but even less successful comedy Erik the Viking. Munchausen became a cult success that's still spoken of admiringly today. Erik doesn't get talked about much...
It's a shame, because the script is pretty good - good enough to survive some dodgy casting (Mickey Rooney in a role that cries out for Ernest Borgnine) and appalling direction (Terry Jones must have been bitten by a long shot when he was a child, because he won't have more than a handful of 'em in the picture, and he constantly puts the visual set-up after delivering the punch line). With Ragnorak - the end of the world - approaching, nice young Viking Erik (Tim Robbins), who isn't into all that raping and pillaging lark, must find the Horn Resounding and journey to Asgard to wake the gods to save the day and bring light back to the world. Only to get there he has to brave a dragon so huge you can only see parts of it because it fills the sky, visit the mythical kingdom of Hy-Brasil and sail off the very edge of the world...
It helps a lot if you know the Norse mythology, and it's a shame it didn't have a more visually ambitious director: as it stands, it's one of those examples of making an expensive film look like a cheap one. Yet for all it's many shortcomings and sequences that fall flat (such as most of the scenes with Terry Jones himself), if you're on the right wavelength there's much to enjoy.
Unfortunately, the version released on Region 1 DVD is not the original 107-minute UK theatrical cut or even the shorter version re-edited for video after the film opened to terrible reviews (although in the process some 14 minutes and one cheap but cheerful gag about Leif the Lucky got lost) - but the much, much shorter 'Son of the Director's Cut' that loses a fifth of the film's running time. Seek out the Region 2 UK PAL DVD instead - the single disc PAL release includes the second cut while the 2-disc version also includes the Son of the Directors' Cut - or better still, the Australian Region 4 PAL disc, which includes a 99-minute international cut (103 minutes at normal speed), though sadly the subtitles on Tsutomu Sekine's scene are missing. None of the several versions of the film are perfect, but this final is easily the worst. Mr Jones really should keep sharp objects away from the children - they could do another film a serious injury.
Movie Review: An inexplicable and disappointing re-cut
Summary: 2 Stars
How can I possibly express my disappointment at this unwarranted mangling of a perfectly charming little movie?
A big fan of the original cut of _Erik the Viking_, and having nearly worn out my old VHS copy, I was eagerly anticipating the DVD release. I was a little surprised when the negative reviews here indicated that the movie had been severely edited (- 25 minutes!) for the DVD release, and decided to rent it before buying. This was fortunate, because I not only saved myself a few dollars, but the disappointment of having rewarded those responsible for this inexplicable re-cut.
I could have, perhaps, coped with the fact that some of my favorite little moments have been edited out (e.g. "Slow down, you fool, no one can row that fast!"), but the edits are executed so abruptly, so haphazardly, that I have to wonder if the director's son either suffers from ADHD or was paid for every second he could excise from the movie. Take, for instance, the scene in which Erik and his followers are walking through the outer hall of Valhalla in search of the gods, the heroic music is swelling in the background, and WHAM! we get an immediate cut to the next shot. "Jarring" would be an understatement.
Directors (and presumably sons) certainly reserve the right to go back and finesse their own works, however the director's son has committed the same error in judgement as George Lucas did in finessing the hell out of a charming, if imperfect, film that the fans nevertheless adore. Due to the enormous outcry from Lucas' legions of fans, he finally conceded to releasing the unedited original theatrical cuts of the _Star Wars_ movies on DVD. However, I fear that, since _Erik the Viking_ does not enjoy the phenomenal level of support of the Star Wars franchise, we will never see an original DVD release of our beloved little movie. What a shame.
Movie Review: Not What I Expected
Summary: 2 Stars
A great adventure in the Monty Python style. Always difficult to find on DVD, it was a pleasant surprise to see it re-released. Unfortunately, this version is designed for television, and a full twenty-five minutes shorter than my original VHS version. In spots, the editing done to shorten the film is amateurish, and the tacked on generic water sounds used to fatten up the original audio for surround sound is more a distraction than an augmentation to the movie. I will be keeping my VHS tape while awaiting a true DVD release.