Joachim Rønning
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Now two Norwegian filmmakers have created a compelling new drama about the voyage of Kon-Tiki.
(If it ends up winning, it'll be the first Norwegian movie to take home an Oscar since the original Kon-Tiki, a documentary Heyerdahl and his team filmed en route, scored a statuette in 1951.)
Kon-Tiki, though never overtly stealing, mirrors the most effective aspects of films like Cast Away, Jaws and Mutiny on the Bounty.
The story immediately brings to mind classic tales of obsession like Werner Herzog’s Fitzcarraldo, about a man trying to pull a ship over a mountain.
Michelle Pfeiffer puts a venomous twist on her line readings as the duplicitous and quite simply awful Queen Ingrith, and the great Warwick Davis from “Willow” and “Return of the Jedi” is the fantastically named Lickspittle, who is a kind of mad scientist for Queen Ingrith.
Ever since he was nominated for an Oscar for "Kon-Tiki," the seafaring adventure he co-directed with Espen Sandberg, Rønning has become a hired hand for Disney, but this intriguing foray into fantasy hardly feels generic.
Kon-Tiki, though never overtly stealing, mirrors the most effective aspects of films like Cast Away, Jaws and Mutiny on the Bounty.
New directors Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg, best known for Norway’s 2012 foreign language Oscar nominee Kon-Tiki, mostly follow the franchise rulebook in spinning out the jokey (but not terribly sexy) Carina-Henry romance and staging the heavily-choreographed action. Mildly bawdy gags punctuate the piece, making Dead Men feel at times like a Carry On comedy.
Ever since he was nominated for an Oscar for "Kon-Tiki," the seafaring adventure he co-directed with Espen Sandberg, Rønning has become a hired hand for Disney, but this intriguing foray into fantasy hardly feels generic.
If the movie looks like Tron: Ares, it’s backstopped by its humor, story, and characters…
There is no argument against the beauty of the film, like Tron: Ares; for some, visuals will be more than enough to overcome narrative weaknesses.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017)
Directed by Espen Sandberg
influenced by Kon-Tiki (2012)
This is strange considering Ronning and Sandberg’s previous film, the Oscar-nominated “Kon-Tiki,” was set almost entirely on a boat, skillfully relying on tiny sonic details and slightly off-kilter angles to suggest a life at sea.
And surprisingly they don't do much that's novel with the naval battles, either, considering their sea-faring experience on breakout Oscar nominee, Kon-Tiki.
While it must have seemed like a great idea at the time, going from indies like the critically acclaimed “Kon-Tiki” (and lesser acclaimed “Bandidas”) to the franchise heavens (and budgets) of Disney’s ‘Pirates,’ directors Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg suffer the indignity of losing their personality in a completely anonymous, big mainstream debut.
New directors Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg, best known for Norway’s 2012 foreign language Oscar nominee Kon-Tiki, mostly follow the franchise rulebook in spinning out the jokey (but not terribly sexy) Carina-Henry romance and staging the heavily-choreographed action.
“Kon-Tiki” directors Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg are at the helm this time around, proving capable captains even if the script they’re working from isn’t always seaworthy.
Norwegian directors Espen Sandberg and Joachim Ronning (who got on the radar thanks to their acclaimed seafaring adventure Kon-Tiki) make their Hollywood feature debut here.
Heyerdahl is played by the blond Viking Pål Sverre Hagen, described by most reviewers as the spitting image of the lithe and dashing Peter O’Toole in Lawrence of Arabia, but who looks to me more like a young, blue-eyed Max von Sydow.
Sure, it's still fun to see Pfeiffer in devious mode with some clear Stardust echoes, but it feels like a missed opportunity.
Pfeiffer’s doing her best with a ridiculous role (for a sense of the missed potential, compare with the vain sorceress she played in “Stardust”), and Fanning gets to be a bit more proactive than previous princesses, but the story’s still a mess, and the world itself — buildings, costumes and creature-filled environments alike — amounts to an overworked eyesore, much too detailed for the brain to register, let alone take pleasure in discovering.
Fanning struggles to make her character memorable while Pfeiffer is on cruise-control, especially compared to her role in Stardust (2007).
So, instead of a Last Action Hero for gore, we get Tron: Ares: a functional, if uninspired, fan-service return that feels drained of all the tonal originality of the first movie.
While Maleficent (2014), and its sequel, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019), sought to upend its source material's narrative by turning its villain into the hero, Cruella takes a different approach, not trying to justify her evil deeds as much as explain them - giving her a Devil Wears Prada-esque origin story that pits the aspiring fashionista and budding villain Estella (Emma Stone) against a ruthless, established fashion designer (Emma Thompson) in a battle for dominance of the London fashion scene.
Returning writer Linda Woolverton ( Mulan , The Lion King , Alice in Wonderland ) has a better grasp of fairytale mechanics than anyone else in the business.
The script, led by Disney’s favourite in-house writer, Linda Woolverton (the first Maleficent, Beauty and the Beast , The Lion King , Mulan , Alice in Wonderland ) hits the familiar notes – a beautiful princess, a handsome prince, meddling old folks, various other anthropomorphized creatures and a trio of chipper fairies who flit about.
From Headhunters (one of my favourites of 2012) to the overlooked Snabba Cash (Easy Money), fare from this region has never been more accessible or memorable.