The movie is about One-Eye, the Vikings leader whose bravery seems to have really begun when he escaped slavery and sailed with Christian soldiers. This man sailed with these people searching the Holy Land, where he found himself lost in an unfamiliar and dangerous area suffering from everything.
Mr. Refn, who can pull off stylish brutality (in the Pusher films and Bronson), shows no knack for the kind of visionary, hallucinatory image making that would render Valhalla Rising memorable.
It's a trip into a primordial world and primeval sensibilities, and if you're looking to shake off the mall-movie blahs, there are few better places to look.
