Smallscreen Reviews
Review: History's 'Vikings' a thrill ride, cast talks roles (VIDEOS)
By April Neale Mar 3, 2013, 3:34 GMT
In "Vikings," the cold and hard scrabble world of the Northmen is beautifully rendered for the smallscreen thanks to the crack below the line crew of creator Michael Hirst (The Tudors, Elizabeth) who have all painstakingly recreated the journey of Ragnar Lothbrok (Travis Fimmel).
Excellent series- 5 stars
History's first scripted nine part series awash in sex, savagery and splendor. Compelling in the story and beautifully executed, this series is an A+ effort that will be enjoyed by all.
The no miss event airs Sunday, March 3 at 10 p.m.
In "Vikings," the cold and hard scrabble world of the Northmen is beautifully rendered for the smallscreen thanks to the crack below the line crew of creator Michael Hirst (The Tudors, Elizabeth) who have all painstakingly recreated the journey of Ragnar Lothbrok (Travis Fimmel).
The series features a cast of characters as addictive as "Sons of Anarchy" and "Spartacus", full of familial drama underscored by the actions of lead character Ragnar Lothbrok (Travis Fimmel) whose piercing blue eyes and badass modified braided and twisted up Mohawk ponytail may just start a fashion trend for men.
Ragnar is joimed by his lethal, firebrand of a wife, Lagertha (Katheryn Winnick), as they dare to push West, despite the obstacles put in their way by Ragnar's tyrannical chieftain, Earl Haraldson (Gabriel Byrne), no one dimensional villain as he grieves secretly, having lost two sons.
Great news for fans of "The Tudors" as Hirst has enlisted most of the same crew, including award winning costume designer Joan Bergin, to outfit this sumptuous and gorgeously shot series, filmed mostly in Ireland.
The tale begins in 8th century Scandinavia where Ragnar Lothbrok is a farmer who moonlights as leader of Haraldson's horde of large blonde men who sack towns and return with plunder occasionally.
Ragnar has been working in secret on a ship and a modality of navigation that can change their fortune, but he is beset by Haraldson' fear of him, and his brother Rollo's questionable loyalties.
Fimmel recently spoke to reporters on a phone interview about his character Ragnar, based on a character of Norse legend with the same name. "Michael Hirst said to humanize Ragnar, make people relate...really make the audience relate to the Vikings because they’re human beings like everybody else. And there’s such a myth about them just raping and pillaging, and the myth is that they’re very simple people. But they’re actually very knowledgeable people, very curious and they did amazing things with the resources that they had."
The story revolves around Ragnar (Fimmel) and Lagertha (Katheryn Winnick) and their children. Ragnar knows that something big is West, but he needs help to get there.
Earl Haraldson (Byrne), only wants his subjects to travel the known routes, yet Ragnar enlists some of his Viking townies to join him, led by the best character in the ensemble, Floki (Gustaf Skarsgard).
Floki is a rock star, crazy in that devil-may-care way. He's fearless, profane and fey, and has designed a cutting edge (for the times) longboat. With this they set off, find a monastery at Lindisfarne, and make off with Christian artifacts and even a monk slave who Ragnar claims for his spoils.
Athelstan (George Blagden) influences Ragnar with his "one God" belief system. The monk rebuffs the Viking shared bed invitation offered by Lagertha and Ragnar, and proceeds to watch over the children, helping them with running the farm.
Byrne's chieftain Haraldson has a frustrated, sexually scheming wife, Siggy (Jessalyn Gilsig) who has her eye on Ragnar's brother.
Keep an eye on Lagertha, as I had a chance to talk to Kathryn Winnick on the phone about her physical role and the preparedness she had to go through to master the shield maiden.
"I started training martial arts when I was 7 years old. I got my first Black Belt at 13. I started my own martial arts school at 16. And by the time I was 21 I had three different schools. And so I grew up having a very physical background anyways, explains Winnick. "I'm a 3rd Degree Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do, 2nd Degree in Karate, and a licensed bodyguard. So I'd been looking for a role that I can actually get a chance to be that physical. But it's first and foremost well-written and has many layers as a character."
In "Vikings," Ragnar goes off to raids, as Lagertha has to deal with the community and hold the family together and struggle with the personal conflict of her husband being gone and the fact that their relationship is tested. She also has to deal with the bad elements of the village. Life is fraught with danger at every turn.
"And the physical side of it, I definitely had to learn a new craft. Tae Kwon Do and karate is based on using your - the art of footwork and handwork. And it's a sport, whereas a shield maiden used her shield and her sword as her weapons. And that for me was a new art form that I had to try to master in a such short period of time. But it was great to see how they fought and how they used what they had with them in terms of such few resources as weapons. And Lagertha, being a shield maiden, which was probably passed on through different generations, she grew up fighting. So it was interesting to learn how to use different household products for example, or different aspects of the shield as, not only to defend myself but also to attack."
"And physically I definitely got a chance to work with a trainer and work with a fight coordinator to try to get it down. But it was a different style of fighting that I wasn't used to, because it's not like I was able to do spinning roundhouse kicks or spinning back kicks. I had to learn how to use my sword and shield as an extension of my arms and an extension of me as a warrior."
This was one of the best efforts for the year that I have seen thus far. Brilliant all the way around.
