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Intense Promo Trailer for Nicolas Refn's Valhalla Rising

by Alex Billington
April 11, 2009

Given that it's a holiday weekend, the only good news worth writing about comes from outside of the country. Today we have a trailer (via Quiet Earth) for Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn's latest film called Valhalla Rising. It stars Mads Mikkelsen as a one-eyed Viking warrior who escapes his tribal captor and flees to a strange new land. It kind of reminds me of The 13th Warrior and/or Pathfinder. Considering Refn is a highly praised director, this should actually be pretty good. Apologies for the low quality, as it's all that is available. It's hard to tell what's going on in this, but it still looks promising.

Todd Brown over at Twitch says from the footage he saw: "[Refn] made another brilliant piece of work one that while wildly different from what he had done before was still immediately and obviously his own."

Watch the first promo trailer for Nicolas Refn's Valhalla Rising:

For years, One-Eye (Mads Mikkelsen), a mute warrior of supernatural strength, has been held prisoner by the chieftain Barde. Aided by a boy, Are, he kills his captor and together they escape, beginning a journey into the heart of darkness. On their flight from bounty hunters, One-Eye and Kare board a Viking vessel, but the ship is soon engulfed by an endless fog that disintegrates when they sight an unknown land. As the new land reveals its secrets and the Vikings meet a ghastly fate, One-Eye discovers his true self.

Valhalla Rising is directed by Danish filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn, of the Pusher trilogy, Fear X, and the Sundance sleeper hit Bronson previously. The screenplay was co-written by Refn and fellow Danish writer Roy Jacobsen. The film is set to premiere in Denmark and in Finland in August this year, however it doesn't have a US distributor yet. Stay tuned for more information on Valhalla Rising as it arrives.

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b

Too bad the trailer makes this look so B-movie. It could be really cool, no SFX, character-based like Aquirre: The Wrath of God. If they're going all out in period detail, they should've rocked some old-world language ala Passion. Interested, but not sold.
http://film-book.com Film-Book dot Com

Looks good. Reminds me of Conan the Barbarian.
http://www.freewebs.com/zsosahaal/index.htm Zso

I'm interested. If they really found their way into Valhalla though, the warriors they fight there better come back to life the following morning like they're supposed to. However, I feel like they took the concept of those lines "From Slave to Warrior. From Man to God." from Gladiator, albeit they had "A general who became a slave. A slave who became a gladiator. A gladiator who defied an emperor."
Sam

Mark my words, Alex, that's going to be a sleeper hit. That was f***ing awesome!
nate

The tagline could also be a refrence to him being the inspiration for the Norse God, Odin... Being that he had one eye...
http://johnkuehlonline.blogspot.com John Kuehl

Did you know that this was directed by the acclaimed director of the Punisher trilogy? They only mentioned it twice. This looks mediocre.
zubzwank

I love Viking movies. Let me guess, could the mysterious land be...America? Who would win? The 13th Warrior guys or the 300 guys (pared down a little to make it fair)?
Sam

@ comment 6 ... its the acclaimed Pusher trilogy
Xander

Well, the guy only got one eye, which means he will have great problems estimating dept, ergo: he can't be a great fighter. There's your plothole.
NeoSlyfer

meh
Scott McHenry

that looks gruesome as hell
http://lamtalks.blogspot.com Clark M. Lamson

I'd like to see something in a higher resolution, but I think it looks pretty cool. It has a mythical feel, without feeling too hokey or recycled.
dan

this has potential. i like the grim mood and anything with vikings should be worth watching.
Evo

Looks to have potential. I only saw the first Pusher film but it was very gritty and intense. Looking forward to seeing what this has to offer. @ Xander "Well, the guy only got one eye, which means he will have great problems estimating dept, ergo: he can't be a great fighter. There's your plothole." Firstly, this is fiction so, not sure how that demonstrates a "plothole." Additionally, in reality, people like Ray Charles, Jeff Healey, Stevie Wonder, etc. were able to overcome this "plothole" with no sight at all to reach the highest level of their chosen professions. Typically people without sight have to rely on other senses to get by so, personally, in a fictional film this doesn't detract at all from the immersion for me. It only fleshes out the character and shows that he is that much more adept at overcoming adversity. Which...kind of seems like the point.
Daas

Is it just me or does Mads Mikkelsen seem to have only one functioning eye in a lotta movies...
http://rhptkfgs.blogspot.com ramez

I liked how the trailer started but by midway it became "meh" I'll be keepin' and eye out fer this one.
Ben Wilson

this doesn't look that spectacular so far, but I really want to see Bronson, that film looks top notch
Eric

holy shit.. AMAZING
CK

hopefully the man to god thing isnt a joke and there will be some supernatural/viking mythology thing to it
JimD

Looks pretty good.
max

This looks really nice in my opinion! No pointless effects or anything. Looks really creepy in some scenes. Ill go see this in August! (Just so funny to see that "this movie is coming out in Denmark and IN FINLAND in august"!)
watcher

Like the idea. won't be good
Blake

Yawn. Looks like it takes itself too seriously.
Xerxex

Sweet. hopefully it will be better.
Schwartz

What a great idea for a film. Completely different than anything being put out today. It's a concept movie, set in a different time. It doesn't have an mystical reverences and it really reminds me of Apocalypto and that movie was fantastic even though Mel Gibson is a Jew hating fag. #23 your a retard!!! It was edited well so how does a trailer take itself to seriously. I work at a movie theater. I see bad movies and trailers all day. You talk shit about that trailer? Your a fool and the kind of person who would see Hanna Montana three times in a row cause you no diddly shit about anything.
Schwartz

what?
http://rtgmediaphiles.blogspot.com Dan W

looks pretty brutal. I like it. I just hope it's not as much of a B movie as the trailer makes it to be
josh

trailers looks quite nice. As a reply to some of the previous comments, don't expect him to turn into Odin OR alot of norse mythology: they are heading for jerusalem which puts this film after the christianization of scandinavia.
bert and ernie

Refn is awsome! Pusher triligy was awsome! Mads Mikelsen is awsome! I would pay money for this movie in a heartbeat.
Constantin XI

I agree with #28 - 29 Everything ive seen by Refn so far has been amazing. The Pusher trilogy, Bleeder, Fear X and Bronson. This movie will be brutal, realistic and worlds apart from the political correctnes and cheap cliches we normaly see in the holy...woods. And thats what a viking movie should be.... realistic and brutal. There have not been produced just one Viking movie to date worth mentioning. And I think ive seen about most of them, from the early one with K. Duglas, and the later ones; 13th Warrior, Pathfinder, Outlander..... And they all fail as Viking movies. They might have worked as Action movies for teenagers, but as something historical.... They are all insulting. This one however looks good, both from the historical and realistic point of view. I find several reasons for this. They are in Scotland, in an age where the vikings raided and settled the british isles. The plot seems to revolve around their party mysteriusly discovering the new world, just as history seems to conclude the Vikings did now a days. Christianity seems to have been integrated in the plot. Again in the apropriate time frame. So sign me up, i am looking forward to this one.
zubzwank

Constantin-you might want to try the Long Ships (1964), with the almost forgotten Richard Widmark. I haven't seen it since but remember liking it and its music.
http://www.menuiserie-lepape.fr/ menuiserie perros guirec

Yes I agree, Bronson was really amazing. With a special Kubrick touch in I think