Updated: Dec 10, 2021
Welcome back you Inglorious Bastards and Magnificent Bitches. It is I, Doc Comeau and we are back for something a bit different than normal. Today we are going to release our very own series of movie reviews.
Authored by Doc Comeau on Tuesday, July 13th, 2021 at 6:00 PM EST
Less so now that we have been building the That's On Point platform, but I watch and enjoy a lot of movies. It is a passion that goes back into my childhood. I spent a lot of time with my Uncle Mark going to the Cinema and watching most of his massive movie collection.
I want to share that passion with you Inglorious Bastards and Magnificent Bitches. We can't do any of what we do here without you wonderful people and we want to sweeten the pot a bit and you you more bang for your buck. With that in mind, welcome to the very first Doc Reviews.
Today we review and older Norwegian movie recommended to me by Amazon Prime on my Roku device. The
movie in English is named The Ash Lad: In the Hall of the Mountain King and is your typical Arthurian style fantasy adventure with a Viking twist.
The Ash Lad or the Askeladden in Norwegian is a movie based on a series of Norwegian Folktales. It was written by Aleksander Kirkwood Brown and Espen Enger, and directed by Mikkel Brænne Sandemose. It stars a seemingly retarded boy named Espen Askelad, played by Vebjørn Enger, that rises up in status through nothing but his own honorable actions.
The story is your average hero' tale. Espen a young hero chosen by fate must journey away from home on a quest to save the Princess Kristin, played by Eili Harboe, before she is rescued by Prinxe Fredik, played by Allen Hyde, a particularly arrogant and dangerous prince and restore his family's dignity. A quest he is uniquely suited for.
It was extraordinarily hard to judge the acting in this film. Since it is a Norwegian film with English dubb, the acting is separated into two parts. The physical performance and the voice performance.
Without getting into spoilers, I would rate the physical acting as excellent. All the actors from the main three stars mentioned above to the supporting class brought their best to these roles. Despite being a fantasy epic about trolls and a magic sword, every actor on screen was completely believable.
There is not a single moment where the actor's actions, mannerisms and expressions did not match the emotion being portrayed. If the character was supposed to a bumbling buffoon, you seen a bumbling buffoon and if they are supposed to be an evil arrogant dick, that's what you get. A perfect Harmony of mind, body and soul.
The voice actors though their names are unknown also gave a passionate performance. Each one giving each voice character and personality. However, the voices didn't all match the characters they were attached to.
The Cinematography about average for the 3rd it was film. Looks like a combination or Stop Motion, green screen and on site filming. Not dissimilar to the old Hercules episodes, but a little more seemless in its transitions.
Now the film fan in me wants to give this film a 9 out of 10 with 5 being average. I am huge Science Fiction and Fantasy fan and a fan of the Viking cultures. The film critic in me can't allow that. So with that in mind I give this film an 7 out of 10.
The movie was not quite average. What it did well it did exceptionally well. However it was still your average hero's tale.
I would recommend this if you are into Arthurian type films or your looking for a film to watch with the little ones. If you are interested in watching the film, it can be found on Amazon Prime. Thank you for your continued support we can't do this without you.
I was vague here intentionally to avoid spoilers. I realize some of you don't like that sort of thing and get really offended by it. Thanks for reading and I will see you in the next one.
The Ash Lad: In the Hall of the Mountain King. IMDb. September 29, 2017.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5628418/
The Ash Lad. Directed by Mikkel Braenne Sandemose, performances by Vebjorn Enger, Eili Harboe, Mads Sjogard Pettersen, Amazon Prime Video, 2017.
