Main cast: Dean Ridge (Vitharr), Ross O’Hennessy (Wyman), Kezia Burrows (Herja), James Groom (Dominus Cassius), Ioan Hefin (The Hermit), Chris Hampson (Skuld), Ian Virgo (Asbjorn), Michelle McTernan (Inger), Elin Hayes (Runa), Katra Knight (Nara), Ean Skinner (Maedoc), Chris Barnicoat (Brunn), and Phillip Jones (Seward)
Director: Emmet Cummins
Wait, The Lost Viking shares some of the same cast members as Viking Siege, as well as the same “pretty decent-looking for a low budget flick” vibes and even color scheme. Are they made by the same people? Were these two films made one after the other? At any rate, the two movies are very different in tone, though. This one is more of a survival drama thing.
Vitharr follows his Viking family to the land that will be known as Britain one day. His father is hoping his brother and carve out his own territory in this place, but alas, it’s not long before he and the rest of Vitharr’s family are cut down by the unwelcoming natives. Left to fend for his own, our hero staggers and stumbles his way through all kinds of pitfalls as he tries to find his uncle.
That’s basically the story. There will be hardly any ups and lots of downs, and to give Dean Ridge credit, he succeeds to playing this fellow who manages to slowly become a tougher and hardier fellow after all the turd balls flung his way, in a realistic manner too. He’s not a chosen one or someone with convenient hidden talents that emerge at convenient moments; he’s what it said on the box – a gentle kid that is unlike the warrior his father was, stuck in his personal Gladiator showcase.
Everyone else in the cast is a supporting character with little character development. That’s alright, as this is Vitharr’s story.
While this movie is watchable, however, the script is rife with predictable, clichéd twists and turns. It’s hard to avoid the clumsy foreshadowing dealt out by the script: oh, Vitharr is not a warrior like his father… surprise, he is soon forced to toughen up in order to survive. Of course his parents die when they choose to stare at one another slow motion in the midst of battle – this is so overdone in so many movies, and really now, who does things like this in the heat of a skirmish anyway. Oh, and don’t forget Vitharr hearing voices of his father when he’s badly in need of a morale boost. These and many other things in this movie will be familiar to most movie fans, as this movie seems a lot like a composite of popular tropes.
Oh, and the script can be more creative though. It tends to fall into predictable patterns. For example, I’ve lost count of the number of scenes which end with Vitharr blacking out.
The Lost Viking is an alright movie, although there is still a strong whiff of amateur hour around it. Still, if you have to watch this thing for whatever reason, you’d be fine. Heaven knows, you can do much worse to kill time on a boring, lazy day.
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