It's Vikings vs. aliens when an extraterrestrial soldier (Jim Caviezel) crash lands in medieval Norway and joins forces with the local warring tribes to take on a ferocious space lizard with a fiery temperament. How could you go wrong with such a premise hatched in genre-movie heaven? It doesn't help that the battle scenes are shot in the busy, in-your-face style that turns action into an incoherent blur and the CGI space dragon is vague and indistinct. I do appreciate that an intimate conversation between Viking king John Hurt and warrior-princess daughter Sophia Myles is wedged between swings in a clanging swordfight exercise, and you can't go wrong with Ron Perlman as a bald, bearded, badass Viking king. Too bad Caviezel doesn't have the charisma to carry the lead. But one thing still bugs me: Why does the battle between Caviezel and the creature turn out to be some kind of grudge match? Does every monster mash have to be personal?
The commentary by writer/director Howard McCain, writer/executive producer Dirk Blackman and producers Chris Roberts and John Schimmel may be of interest to fans (there's lots of practical information), but there isn't much insight to the film or the production process. There are also visual effects tests (showing various stages of development of the creature and an early CGI model of the spaceship), animatics (animated storyboards) to nine scenes (including a deleted scene), and production art galleries.
The commentary by writer/director Howard McCain, writer/executive producer Dirk Blackman and producers Chris Roberts and John Schimmel may be of interest to fans (there's lots of practical information), but there isn't much insight to the film or the production process. There are also visual effects tests (showing various stages of development of the creature and an early CGI model of the spaceship), animatics (animated storyboards) to nine scenes (including a deleted scene), and production art galleries.
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