While the characters’ archaic locutions sometimes evoke laughs that may or may not be intentional, the dialogue also shows an acute ear for the beauty of language and an avoidance of historical anachronism that’s uncommon in the sword-and-sandal tradition this movie hails from. The screenplay was co-authored by Eggers and the Icelandic poet and novelist Sjón, a frequent Björk collaborator who also co-wrote the recent folk-horror film Lamb. The costumes feel accurate down to the last cloak pin, helmet nose-guard, and mud-spattered head wrap. Their work shows in the result, with stunningly detailed production design by Craig Lathrop and an unsettling score by Robin Carolan and Sebastian Gainsborough that uses historically accurate instruments like the bone flute and the tagelharpa, a lyre with strings made of horsehair.

A recent New Yorker profile of Eggers revealed the near-comical exactitude of the research he and his team did on the Norse legends and Old Icelandic sagas on which The Northman is based.

Ethan hawke hamlet full movie