[cearbhallain]

Originally Posted by Ea

Ooh, another fan! A lot of people don't think much of this film and I often have to defend why I like it. But come on, it got adventure! fantasy! vikings! mysterious evil! more vikings! Antonio Banderas as Ibn Fadlan!

Antonio has never done anything for me. Warrior number 3 however, is. mine. Antonio does get some moments of awesome in the movie though, like when he shows the Norsemen why an Arab brings a dog to war. There is a lot of wit in the screenplay.

I read the book long before being aware of the film and didn't realise the film was based on it until well after I'd seen t the first time. What I like especially about the film is that all our knowledge about those evil people is gained through the eyes of the viking warriors. We never know more than them -- and in the end, we really don't know much about that people. They are quite mysterious.

It's a brilliant narrative structure as we're seeing it ultimately through the eyes of the Arab and we learn about the culture of the Norsemen as he does. That bit with the languages was especially inspired.

What I read into it, is that those people actually have a lot in common with the jotuns from Scandinavian mythology. Chaos powers that threaten civilisation. And that makes the film much more interesting, and more "believable" than the book - where that people just turns out to be surviving neanderthals. How boring.

Crichton's ending sucked. I had hopes because the book was one of his earlier ones, but the book is at its best in the first half - which as I understand it, is taken almost directly from fragments of historical documents that recount an ambassadorial visit from the middle east to the north lands. Obviously for me, the introduction where the author talks about his research and motivation to write the story was the best thing in the book.

But then I don't like the current trend of picking apart myths to get to "the man behind" like the Arthur film or the recent Robin Hood film. Myths and legends survive because that the story that contains the value - the possible reality behind is not as interesting.

Which is why I can say without embarrassment that Braveheart is one of my favorite movies.

I have a big teevee, surround sound, and a comfy couch. When will you be coming over for movie night?