Having eagerly anticipated this feature, I was bitterly disappointed by this mockery of a conclusion to a series I had enjoyed very much (at times, anyway). The quality of the brilliant first season, which declined over each sequel, is long gone here.
Obviously the pacing is way off. There are at least a season's worth of twists and turns, and when they all come at you so fast it stretches belief well past breaking point.
This is exacerbated by a completely ridiculous plot in which virtually no character has consistent motivations and nothing they do is believable. One minute a character has his son taken hostage and is being executed by a king because he's so committed to his own independence by another, two scenes later when nothing has changed he is swearing his undying loyalty and putting all his faith in the king that was about to kill him.
The politics make no sense at all. The kings of independent Shetland, Orkney and Man are leading armies against England because... its king pillaged a few villages on the Scottish border? The absurdly complex villainous plot that unravels is all reliant upon the king happening to die exactly when he dies, among a long series of other narrative conveniences.
Who are we supposed to be rooting for here? Surely not Aethelstan, who is more villain than hero throughout: killing his brother for no reason, executing one of the series most beloved characters for no reason, ordering the massacres of civilians over and over again? All that is forgiven because his lover told him he should do it? Towards the end, the peril we are presented with is that Aethelstan might die - oh no! Not the guy who caused every problem in the whole story by being such a gullible and pompous buffoon!
And the villains? Well we have a completely implausible incognito viking warlord who has somehow become the leader of an influential saxon christian cult, as well as another viking warlord with the character of a shoe who might as well be anyone.
The battle at the end is dull, predictable, and packed with grey-washout visuals where every soldier is interchangeable. Somehow people are having conversations amid the chaos. The genius tactical innovations of our veteran-of-a-hundred-battles hero? Leaving little bits of metal on the ground for the enemy to walk on (owie!), and hiding a battalion behind trees (no one could see that coming!) Capped up with a completely emotionless and contrived death.
The film has no themes. No character or character development. No tension. No creativity of any kind. The characters end up exactly where they began. It's almost amusingly similar to a play by school children.
Obviously the pacing is way off. There are at least a season's worth of twists and turns, and when they all come at you so fast it stretches belief well past breaking point.
This is exacerbated by a completely ridiculous plot in which virtually no character has consistent motivations and nothing they do is believable. One minute a character has his son taken hostage and is being executed by a king because he's so committed to his own independence by another, two scenes later when nothing has changed he is swearing his undying loyalty and putting all his faith in the king that was about to kill him.
The politics make no sense at all. The kings of independent Shetland, Orkney and Man are leading armies against England because... its king pillaged a few villages on the Scottish border? The absurdly complex villainous plot that unravels is all reliant upon the king happening to die exactly when he dies, among a long series of other narrative conveniences.
Who are we supposed to be rooting for here? Surely not Aethelstan, who is more villain than hero throughout: killing his brother for no reason, executing one of the series most beloved characters for no reason, ordering the massacres of civilians over and over again? All that is forgiven because his lover told him he should do it? Towards the end, the peril we are presented with is that Aethelstan might die - oh no! Not the guy who caused every problem in the whole story by being such a gullible and pompous buffoon!
And the villains? Well we have a completely implausible incognito viking warlord who has somehow become the leader of an influential saxon christian cult, as well as another viking warlord with the character of a shoe who might as well be anyone.
The battle at the end is dull, predictable, and packed with grey-washout visuals where every soldier is interchangeable. Somehow people are having conversations amid the chaos. The genius tactical innovations of our veteran-of-a-hundred-battles hero? Leaving little bits of metal on the ground for the enemy to walk on (owie!), and hiding a battalion behind trees (no one could see that coming!) Capped up with a completely emotionless and contrived death.
The film has no themes. No character or character development. No tension. No creativity of any kind. The characters end up exactly where they began. It's almost amusingly similar to a play by school children.