Do I need to take a moment here to restate my love for Denmark's Nicolas Winding Refn? With his Pusher films Refn is responsible for, in my mind, the greatest trilogy of crime films ever made. His Bleeder is criminally underseen, as is Fear X and Bronson has been winning much love around the globe. Refn is, quite simply, one of the most talented and distinctive voices in the film world today. And so we have been waiting in great anticipation for his viking epic Valhalla Rising - with Mads Mikkelsen in the lead - from the day we first heard of it. What would Refn do when you took him out of the urban centers that had driven his work up until now?
Well, I had the chance to see the sales reel for Valhalla in Berlin and the answer was simple: he made another brilliant piece of work one that while wildly different from what he had done before was still immediately and obviously his own. The only down side at the time was that I couldn't share any of this stuff with you, but now I can. The trailer has just arrived and you'll find it after the break.
For years, One-Eye, a mute warrior of supernatural strength, has been held prisoner by the chieftain Barde. Aided by a boy, Are, he kills his captor and together they escape, beginning a journey into the heart of darkness. On their flight from bounty hunters, One-Eye and Are board a Viking vessel, but the ship is soon engulfed by an endless fog that first disintegrates as they sight an unknown land. As the new land reveals its secrets and the Vikings meet a ghastly fate, One-Eye discovers his true self.