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2020 was not a good year for the world of cinema. The emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic has forced us to sort out which shows are ‘worthy’ to watch. After Popculture.id last reviewed The Trial of the Chicago 7 , this time we are back to review the Norwegian fantasy film Mortal .
Mortal itself is a film that makes us quite curious. Because this film takes the theme of Norse mythology and this film comes directly from Norway, one of the original places of the mythology. There have been many films that have based stories on this Norse mythology, even Marvel Studios has clearly included the character of Thor, who is one of the gods in this mythology. Enough with the opening, let’s go straight to the Popculture.id version of the Mortal film review
Story Plot
Mortal is an action-fantasy film from Norway. The film uses English as the main language of the film and Norwegian as its complement. Mortal is directed by director André vredal and was released in 2020. This film is simply inspired by Norse mythology, specifically the story of the god Thor.
The story opens with the story of a young man who tries to survive and live in the forest. The young man named Eric has a mysterious power that he can’t control. This became known to the world after Eric accidentally killed a young man who mocked him.
Long story short about Eric who has the power to control lightning like Thor spreads all over the world. Seeing this, many people think that Eric is a messenger of God. So where is the criminal? The villain in this film is the United States of America. America itself feels that Eric’s presence can disrupt the stability of religions that have existed before. For this reason, American agents were dispatched to control or kill Eric.
Raw Without Imagination
Towards the end of the film, the audience is transported to the story where Eric first receives his powers. Apparently in that place Eric found a glove, belt and hammer Mjolnir which further confirmed that Eric was the embodiment of Thor himself. Even the main character has shown his ability to control lightning and throw Mjolnir into the clouds.
If you are a Thor fanboy , or at least have watched the Marvel version of Thor , then this film is a boring version of Thor because it is very text book . Why is that? Yes, because this film is clearly too follow the original storyline of the story of Norse mythology raw. The appearance of several elements such as Mjolnir, Yggdrasil (tree of life) does not help at all. This film only transfers the background of this Thor story to modern life in the country of Norway.
What is good enough for this film is the depiction of Norway’s beautiful landscape from the sea, lakes, mountains, cities and villages. Yes, in the end, in our opinion, the Mortal film is proof that over-adapting the original text is not always good. Sometimes fantasy films need wild and unpredictable imaginations, featuring a variety of powers, heroic actions and formidable enemies. The thing is, who’s going to be entertained watching Thor fight the cops?
Entertaining But Too Ordinary
Watching mythological themed movies is something fun. In addition to entertaining, the audience also received information about the history and imaginative myths of the story. For a class of big screen films that carry the theme of Norse mythology, Mortal is quite entertaining.
Entertaining doesn’t mean it’s good, but it doesn’t mean it’s bad either. It’s just that this film is too ordinary. If I had to choose between watching Mortal or Thor , then I definitely prefer to watch Thor, which is much more imaginative with a variety of conflicts that can make the audience’s emotions go up and down.
Finally, if you are curious about this film, please watch it. But if you think this film is not entertaining or boring, I suggest playing the God of War game to entertain yourself to see more imaginative Norse mythology which is the main theme of the Mortal film .
