Valhalla rising

Valhalla Rising was the title of an action adventure in Clive Cussler's series of Dirk Pitt novels. Although the title of the book and author's name feature in the movie version's opening credit, I've only traced one connection : the novel referred to signs of Vikings having visited the Hudson River.

From that fictional notion, the Danish movie-maker Nicholas Winding Refn appears to have dreamed up an offbeat and cinematically individualistic tale of Norsemen a millennium ago. Co-funding by Scotland obliged the location, plot details and actors' accents to be set on the bleak hillsides of Scotland, with the credits suggesting Skye was one key setting.

Refn can only be described as a studied director. Every scene is artfully composed, mostly in dominant tones of overwhelming brown, misty grey and occasional flashes of rabid red. Those disturbing shots are seen through the vision of One-Eye, a mute prize fighter owned by a pagan Scottish clan. The brutal character's muteness enables Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen (seen recently as the Bond-baiting villain in Casino Royale) to stay silent and stare malevolently for long periods with his one good eye. The bad eye is a consistently excellent piece of make-up artistry.

Sold to another clan, One-Eye escapes from his neck braces and wanders off, followed by the young boy who'd been his feeder. They join a band of Scottish Christians setting off for riches in the Holy Land. Becalmed at sea in a menacing mist, they land up on an unknown mountainous forested shoreline. Sudden flights of arrows, ritual funeral scaffolding and decorative details let the audience know the small band had reached North America, but the crusaders can only assume they've been led into hell by One-Eye and the nameless boy.

For almost an hour, the movie is spellbindingly enchanting. There are moments of shocking gore from disembowelings. Characters are credibly unusual, unlike any other movie Vikings or medieval warriors. The film is paced cunningly and feels as if it's leading to dramatic allegorical conclusions. The colour schemes are magnificent cinematographic art; many shots are framed memorably. One by one, the band of Christian brothers dies, and almost as if the director needs to fill his allotted time span, the pace slows to a halting limp. By the time the Native Americans appear, the end is in sight and a welcome one.

For that first hour, though, Refn has created a fascinating work of movie art. His previously ignored Bronson must be sought, along with any future productions that are equally non-mainstream.