RAGNAROK (2013 - Norwegian)

Studio:       Magnet Releasing
Director:    Mikkel Braenne Sandemose
Writer:       John Kare Raake
Producer:  Martin Sundland, Are Heidenstrom
Stars:     Pal Sverre Hagen, Nicolai Cleve Broch, Sofia Helin, Bjorn Sundquist, Julian Rasmussen Podolski, Maria Annette Tanderod Berglyd

Review Score:

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Summary:

An archeologist and his family set out to uncover a connection between a fabled Viking ship and the Norse mythology of Ragnarok.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

Archaeologist Sigurd Svendsen fails to impress museum sponsors with his research on the Viking ship Oseberg after controversially revealing a suspected connection with the Norse mythology of Ragnarok. With his theories dismissed by museum director Henriksen, Sigurd runs into more trouble at home with his son Brage and his daughter Ragnhild, whom he has been raising alone since the untimely death of his wife Maren.

Fellow researcher Allan brings a rune stone to Sigurd that they come to believe is a treasure map pointing to where the Vikings hid their sacking spoils. Allan recruits a climber named Elisabeth and a guide named Leif, and Sigurd brings his children along in search of the Oseberg ship’s hidden secret.

In an isolated forest in Finnmark, the group discovers a cave with artifacts left behind by the Vikings. At gunpoint, Leif steals the items and leaves the others trapped at the bottom of a cavern. Leif also steals the group’s raft, but he is attacked on the lake by a creature rising from the watery depths.

Elisabeth scales a rock wall and rescues the others with a rope. While she and the two children regroup, Sigurd and Allan reexamine the journal of a Viking girl named Asa and find a skeleton with a large fang stuck in its skull. The two men decide to take another look at the cave. When they find a large number of skeletons, they realize that the location is not a treasure site, but a mass grave.

Unbeknownst to the others, Brage found an egg in the cave and brought it back to the campsite. A reptilian creature hatches and wreaks havoc in the trailer where the children are resting with Elisabeth. The trailer breaks loose and threatens to fall in the nearby water, but Sigurd returns in time to rescue his family. Allan finds the hatchling and hides it in his bag.

As the group makes their way through the forest, they discover a large sea creature hunting them from the water. Sigurd realizes that the hidden message in Asa’a writings was not a map, but a warning. When Sigurd discovers that Allan is hiding the creature’s offspring, he understands why they are being hunted. However, Allan refuses to give up the discovery.

While the group escapes confinement in an underground hatch, the creature attacks and kills Allan. Sigurd rescues his children when the creature comes after them next. During the final confrontation, Sigurd hands the hatchling over to its mother and the creature retreats back to the water.

Back home, Sigurd quits his job at the museum after turning over the rune stone to Henriksen. Sigurd and Elisabeth then prepare to take Brage and Ragnhild on a holiday.

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Review:

It might be slightly disingenuous, although not at all inaccurate, to liken “Ragnarok” to a Norwegian “Jurassic Park.”  It certainly carries the same core character dynamic of two male leads (a la Jeff Goldblum and Sam Neill), age appropriate love interest (Laura Dern), opportunistic weasel who wrecks everything (Wayne Knight), and a little boy and girl for the younger set to relate with (those two child actors whose names can only be recalled by consulting IMDB).  All that is missing is Richard Attenborough’s John Hammond equivalent.

Anytime a struggling researcher is on the brink of a bold discovery in a movie, you can bet that his/her unfortunate timing will coincide with a grant money gravy train running out of coal.  That is precisely the match lighting this movie’s story, as archaeologist Sigurd Svendsen finds his funding fire snuffed out when museum sponsors get wind of his crazy theories involving runes, Ragnarok, and the Viking ship Oseberg.  That leaves Sigurd and his buddy Allan to investigate on their own as the Swiss Family Svendsen takes a stab at Indiana Jones-style adventure.

Getting in the way of Sigurd’s passionate dedication to solving a centuries-old mystery is the responsibility of raising his two young children as a run-ragged widower.  Mounting obligations on both fronts make Sigurd the kind of busy father destined to miss his daughter’s recital the moment she pointedly reminds his preoccupied brain of the afternoon event.

While the plot may involve exploring uncharted territory and unearthing new discoveries, “Ragnarok” itself does just the opposite with its scene structure and setups.  Content to cull its playing pieces from every adventure epic and cliffhanger serial that came before it, the movie plays it so safe that an audience can walk blindfolded through the storyline and still see everything coming.

As soon as the grizzled wilderness guide in his dirty tank top and rifle slung over one shoulder walks onscreen, the question is not if, but when he will pick his moment to turn traitor.  The same goes for a scene of the core quintet taking turns ziplining over a deadly lake.  Someone’s carabineer is definitely getting stuck in the middle of that rope.  The only unknown is who.

Yet the actors portray likable people that are so easy to root for, and director Mikkel Braenne Sandemose stages everything with such kid glove sincerity for the tropes being employed, that disdain over the familiarity fades fast.  Replacing it is an appreciation the movie evokes for classic accessible fantasy thick with PG-rated thrills and Spielberg-esque charms.

Playing no small part in creating the Amblin Entertainment feel are composer Magnus Beite and cinematographer Daniel Voldheim.  With far less orchestra players than John Williams has ever conducted, Beite accurately recreates that sweeping, soaring pulse beat that is an audible staple of feel-good fantastic voyage films.  And Voldheim only has to turn on his camera and let the lush Scandinavian countryside fill in the visual blanks for him.

“Ragnarok” does become trapped in its own forest of stalled momentum during the midsection.  Its tale about discovering an ancient snakelike creature plays so coy with teasing the monster’s appearance that Act Two is like an extended game of hide and seek.  But there are worse ways to wade through the runtime than being locked in spelunker mode with an affable cast and a top-notch presentation.  When the creature finally does slither onscreen, director Sandemose once again wrings every drop of production value from a stunning sea beast rivaling any T-Rex or raptor that the “Jurassic Park” franchise has ever had to offer.

No matter how many boilerplate story beats and seen before character types are used as links in its predictable plot chain, “Ragnarok” squeezes so much quality from its all-ages appeal that fun trounces formula.  Far from being a mold breaker in the action adventure genre, “Ragnarok” practically is the mold.  At the same time, it would take an incredibly miserly heart to hate on a movie with such pure intentions for family friendly entertainment.

NOTE: The film’s full original title was “Gaten Ragnarok.”

Review Score:  70

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