Valhalla Rising (2009)

Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, “Valhalla Rising” is a confounding nearly wordless drama set in 1,000 A.D. about a Norse warrior (Mads Mikkelsen) held captive by local chiefs –- Scots, maybe -- and forced to participate in muddy and deadly “Fight Club” match-ups. The one-eyed man can see visions of the future, we know that much. Nothing else. He escapes and kills his captors, sparing the young boy who has been his caretaker. Freed, he runs into a group of Christian warriors, cutting a bloody trail on their way to Jerusalem to kill in the name of God. One-Eyed, as he is called, is strong-armed into joining. But the men, via boat, don’t end up in Israel. They are lost, turned around, at the top of North America. There, the bloodletting really begins. Native Americans. Filmed through cheesecloth and filled with a lot of self-important talk and show-offy shots that might impress Photoshop fans who overuse Photoshop, “Rising” never settles down to a good movie such “Fistful of Dollars." Never boring; never exciting. C+