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Erik the Viking
R0 - United Kingdom - Arrow Films Review written by and copyright: Jon Meakin (2nd November 2011). |
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The Film
 The story goes that Erik The Viking started life as a book that Terry Jones had written for his son Bill, so it’s fitting that Terry was able to let Bill re-edit the film to how his dad had always wanted. With a drop of 15 minutes, it definitely deserves the word “edit”. Both versions are included in this thorough release, but neither is on a par with the best of Jones’ Monty Python work, The Holy Grail or Life of Brian, and certainly not with fellow Python Terry Gilliam’s work, but it does share DNA with all of them and so is riotous good fun. It is closest in tone to Gilliam’s The Time Bandits in that it works as a children’s story, but unfortunately it’s a bit of an odd mess. While it can be forgiven for looking dated, the major problem is in pacing and while the Director’s Son’s Cut is better in this regard, it still doesn’t flow well, but if you’re willing to look on it as a series of sketches, there’s some great stuff worth persevering for. It’s fundamentally impossible for a Monthy Python member to make a bad film! The cast is great, the basic conceit hilarious and it’s got some cracking dialogue. The story is simply that Erik is a Viking, but one that doesn’t agree with all that nasty raping and pillaging stuff. The opening scene finds him awkwardly trying to rape Helga (Samantha Bond). “You haven’t done this before, have you?”, she says! Finally disgusted with the more disagreeable aspects of being a Viking warrior, Erik sets off on a quest to sail to the edge of the world, reach Asgard and persuade the gods to end the age of Ragnarök so the sun may shine and bring peace. He also has to deal with Halfdan The Black who is determined to stop him. The tone of the film is fantastic, similar to The Life of Brian, while the Time Bandit style imagery is occasionally staggering, such as the dragon they have to deal with on the way and later, in Asgard when the Vikings are trying not to fall into a pit. And the supporting cast is incredible. While we have a game Tim Robbins delivering just the right look of dumb innocence as Erik, John Cleese having great fun as Halfdan and a motley crew of British actors like Richard Ridings and the always superb Freddie Jones with the booming voice, you’ll also spot Mickey Rooney and Eartha Kitt in there! With such a reliable cast, a brilliant premise, glorious sets and wonderful dialogue, Erik The Viking is really worth seeing. It’s just such a shame that neither Jones could make it flow better. As a story, I’m sure it is much effective as the original book. Still, if this should be considered lesser Python, that’s still better than most!
Video
This is probably the best Erik has looked. It’s dated and there’s a lot of grain in some sections, especially the effects heavy stuff, but generally colours are consistently even and the anamorphic 1.78:1 image is sharp in both versions.
Audio
Sound quality is good throughout. These earlier Python films have a distinctive, slightly crude style for the sound though, so there isn’t much scope for improvement. However, the Director’s Son’s Cut does feature an English Dolby Digital 5.1 remix, which is pretty good. Both versions also have the original English Dolby Digtal 2.0 Stereo track and separate commentaries.
Extras
Director's Cut Audio Commentary with director Terry Jones and moderator Giles Wiseman Interview with director Terry Jones and son of director Bill Jones (7:22) Picture Slideshow (1:23) Theatrical Cut Audio Commentary with director Terry Jones and moderator Giles Wiseman Featurettes: - "The Evolution of a Director" (4:20) - "The Casting of a Comedy/Adventure" (8:44) - "The Special Effects" (3:26) - "Making Movie Magic in Malta" (3:01) - "Jones & Cleese: A Grand Reunion" (4:42) - "Creating the Look" (3:37) Interviews with: - John Cleese (3:40) - Danny Schiller (2:46) - Terry Jones (8:28) - Charles McKeown (2:34) "Making Of" featurette (30:03) At first glance, there is an excellent selection of extras, but you quickly find that aside from the lively commentary with Terry (and extra points for both versions being done), the interviews and making of features are messy and repetitive. If you persevere there are interesting titbits, but it’s very annoying that they haven’t been edited into a cohesive whole. There’s even an “Interviews…” section and it’s just all the bits not used in the other features! There is a new interview on the DC disc which is good to see as Terry has an infectious enthusiasm for the film still, after all these years, and he talks about the problems getting the version he wanted.
Overall
Erik The Viking hasn’t aged terribly well, but it’s still good natured fun with masses of ambition and imagination. The presentation is pretty good and having separate commentaries was a nice surprise, proving again how much time Terry Jones has for this film. It’s at least a warm and nostalgic trip for fans of the film and it might just find a new audience too.
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