Stylish but barely mediocre overall

Masterful Movie

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

When i saw movie's title i was really excited to this but i really disappointed..Maybe not my type but i really not understand what's going on this movie and my mind very confused.You can watch this if you don't have a any movie for watch... This is what i'm saying...

This is probably one of the worst movies I've seen in a while. It just made no sense. I kept waiting for it to pickup and it never did. The story seems to go nowhere and what dialogue you hear from the characters makes you feel like you're only hearing part of the conversation. I felt the director tried too hard to use cute "artistic" techniques. E.G. The camera focused on a character's face for a prolonged period. It felt like a project out of film school. This is one of those films that people say they like because they think it shows how smart they are. Look at the box office receipts. $5 million budget and the movie grosses $30,000!!!! Talk about a bomb.The only redeeming quality and the reason I didn't score it lower was the backdrop. The shooting locations were gorgeous. They did a good job of giving you a sense of what it would have felt like to be in this environment.

My goodness, what an experience. I didn't know what to expect when i got around to finally see the movie. Mads Mikkelsen is a great actor, so i decided its worth a watch.I was kind of blown away by the movie. The start gets you really intrigued and even though its diresome to watch, you just keep sitting there and wondering what will happen. Its dark, brutal, Mads Mikkelsen is amazing in this movie and whats most interesting: Very little dialogue and no music.Its a very philosophical film, about the humans relationship to religion and the core existence. Its feels like Thomas Hobbes is writing a film, with its own twist. To wrap it up : The movie takes you through the hell of humanity in its natural existing state, a very strange movie, but it leaves you thinking. I recommend watching it alone, you will need to process this one for a while. Why I'm not rating it a 10/10 is because the watching experience, while interesting, is very painful. Don't get me wrong, it helps the film in its tone, but its one of those you probably watch once.So give it a watch.7/10

There are many varied interpretations of the film, the most common thread connecting them is the very obvious parallels between the character One-Eye, and Odin from Norse mythology. I, however, believe the film is about violence. That is to say, I don't think it's a violent movie (which it is) or that it's an action movie with some violent scenes (which it has), I mean to say that the movie itself is about violence. More specifically, humanity's violent nature. The main character, called "One-Eye," is a nameless, voiceless creature of pure brutality who comes from an obviously violent past, and is being held (ostensibly) against his will for the sole purpose of committing violence, before he is able to utilize violence to escape his captors and seek violent revenge. Almost immediately afterwards, he stumbles upon a group of Christians who have clearly just committed an act of hideous violence, and invite him to go and do violence with them-- in the name of God-- in the Crusades. They all board a ship, bound for the Holy Land, which quickly becomes the scene of violence after becoming lost an impenetrable fog. Eventually, the fog lifts and they find themselves not in the arid Holy Land but in a mysterious taiga-- seemingly somewhere in the Americas, where even the natural beauty of the landscape seems to belie the aura of menace that surrounds it. Despair, desperation, and even insanity sets in and the Crusaders begin to turn on each other, all the while being stalked by unseen forces from the forest around them. Everyone in the film meets a gruesome end (save for The Boy who, being left alone, can be assumed to have died of starvation or exposure).It is my belief that One-Eye represents the violence inherent in nature, especially human nature. He exists as a silent, nameless presence who seems to haunt the other characters as everything collapses around them. This belief is strengthened by one scene in particular (around the 1:18 mark) where one of the characters begins to question One-Eye on why he has done this; why he has dragged them into such a terrible fate, as if to imply he felt remorseful of his current predicament, brought about by his own violent nature. But, being the embodiment of said violent human nature, One-Eye says nothing, only stands in silent judgment. The man quickly ceases his questioning and wanders off into the distance, most likely to meet a violent end. And when it's time for even One-Eye himself to die, he appears to suddenly surrender all will to fight and allows himself to be killed, perhaps symbolic of his understanding without question the inevitability of death and the unending cycle of violence that was not just the reality for primitives or crusaders or vikings, but is an inescapable part of existence. A fascinatingly slow burn, the movie is unique in that it is savagely violent while still being basically an art film, with very heavy influence on cinematography and symbolism. Dark, brutal, artful, eerie atmospheric and poetic, Don't pass up an opportunity to see this one.