Escape – Vermächtnis der Wikinger

According to the original title, Escape takes place in Norway, in 1363, but it doesn’t matter, it could easily take place in Norway, in 2675, after a global catastrophe caused the collapse of society and people now survive in small groups in the wilderness. Really, rather than a historical adventure, it felt more like a harsh post-apocalyptic survival story, where wretched characters reveal what remains of their forgotten humanity under their hard shells. Technically, it’s fantastic, with brilliant cinematography and wonderful actors, and in essence it’s a pretty sad story. But I wish the creators had refrained from the mini carnage at the end. 7/10 (17.02.2013)

This has all the clichés of escapist films crammed into 80 minutes. The only difference is that the prey and the ruthless pursuer are women. The guys are only there as extras to cause problems, occasionally have something twitch in their pants, or die. As far as the visuals go, the director says it's cooler to miss the mark using arrows, swords, and knives. I don't deny that I might have liked to know more about the characters, but on the other hand, it was really all about everyone running around in the Norwegian woods. Which the cast and crew certainly enjoyed. However, I do wish the director had more serious material and the same desire to go all out like this. (01.07.2013)

It’s nice that the Norwegians tried to shoot a medieval movie full of pseudo-Vikings involving their gorgeous nature. But for that to work, the leads shouldn’t have been some psychos and a girl who roams around the screen just as aimlessly as one of the thousand clouds on the gloomy sky. (16.08.2016)

Diese historische Verfolgungsjagd durch die frostige, aber wunderschöne Natur erinnert entfernt an den verwandten Centurion. Nur verfolgt diese Bande von Henkern nicht kampffähige Soldaten, sondern zwei arme Mädchen, die gegen die bewaffnete Horde und Gewalttäter nur wenig Chancen haben. Zudem wird sie von der hübschen Sau Ingrid Berdal (Fritt Vilt) angeführt, die ihre Rolle wirklich genießt. Es mag etwas enttäuschend sein, dass der Film kurz ist (ohne Abspann nur 74 Minuten) und in der Mitte leicht verlangsamt wird, aber das Tempo wird durch den Rollentausch von Katz und Maus und den darauf folgenden Kampf wieder angekurbelt. Langeweile droht also nicht. (24.02.2013)

A complete reversal of the victim-victimizer relationship formula, its unwillingness to enrich that connection seems almost by design. It has an advantage in Norway, where the visuals sort of make themselves; after that, all you need is some Aryan hermaphrodite who can hold a crossbow, 3000 krone, and a composer who passionately believes he's doing the soundtrack to the next LoTR. The only deviation from the formula is the fact that the characters in the movie mostly act like idiots, but they're used to that from each other so they manage to respond actively to the immediate outcome of their idiocy. (06.01.2014)

A film that is as peculiar in its execution as it is in its storyline. The plot is essentially about a gang of ruffians who, somewhere in the past, capture a girl and massacre her family. The girl just wants to run away. It's not about anything else. There is not much talking, but the film is not boring. It's action-packed, and it's really gritty. And that's it. Nothing more, but nothing less. (12.12.2016)

I don't often watch action-packed, historical-looking films like this, so I enjoyed the film quite a bit, perhaps because of that. The story, set in the beautiful Nordic countryside, was fast-paced and certainly not lacking in suspense, which was accentuated by the apt musical accompaniment. The only thing the creators could have spared us was the tough-girl ending, where the main character pacifies everyone, despite not previously showing herself to be much of a tough cookie. (25.06.2020)