(MENAFN- Arab Times) Riding the coattails of various, mostly smallscreen medieval-combat chronicles, the Englishlanguage multinational production "Northmen: AViking Saga" brings straightforward vigor to an uninventive but diverting tale of Norse warriors shipwrecked on hostile shores.
There are no novel slants or plot twists in the script (by Austrian screen/genrefiction writing duo Bastian Zach and Matthias Bauer) to render this bloody ninthcentury adventure truly memorable. But helmer Claudio Fah's pacey handling, a creditable if not especially starry cast (duly recruited mostly from hit cable skeins), and handsome locations (South Africa primarily filling in for Scotland) make it a respectable B-actioner.
Having rolled out in various territories since October 2014, it opens July 31 at Arena Cinema in Los Angeles. US theatrical prospects will be modest, improved upon by Aug 11 VOD launch and subsequent distribution to other home formats. A violent squall parts a band of Viking men from their seafaring vessel; those lucky enough to survive find themselves washed onto an unfamiliar coast. We eventually discover that this group led by Asbjorn (Tom Hopper) was banished from home terrain after finding themselves on the wrong side of a royal coup.
Their first challenge in this new land is climbing the sheer cliff that separates shoreline from the interior. That perilous exertion occasions the sole notable line ("I'm a warrior, not a climber!") for Johan Hegg, the gravel-voiced lead singer for the veteran Norse mythology-inspired Swedish deathmetal act Amon Amarth, whose character soon departs for Valhalla. Once on top, the eight men hardly catch their breath before they're confronted by armed soldiers on horseback. Though greatly outnumbered, the Vikings prove their mettle by felling nearly all these foes, who it turns out where guarding a wagon.
Locked inside is Inghean (Charlie Murphy), a well-dressed young woman with a spitfire temperament. She informs them that they're on Scottish soil, though it's not until they find an unlikely ally in arse-kicking "cursed monk" Conall ("True Blood's" Ryan Kwanten) that they realize she's the daughter of King Dunchaid (Danny Keogh). The king dispatches a "wolfpack" of his fiercest soldiers to rescue her, little realizing that the scheming siblings in charge (Ed Skrein, Anatole Taubman) instead plan on killing her, thereby aiding their plot to seize the throne.
Ransom
Thinking to gain a ransom for their captive and buy amnesty at Viking settlements to the south, our protags play cat-and-mouse with their pursuers, aided occasionally by Inghean's premonitions. (However, her supernatural gifts seldom result in anything more advantageous than a yelped "They're coming!" just moments before the bad guys attack.) Deaths by sword, ax, crossbow, spear and spike steadily whittle down both sides, and the capably staged violence proves visceral enough to earn "Northmen" its R rating without straying into gratuitous gore-forgore's- sake. After a time there's a certain monotony to this elemental chase narrative and its frequent bouts of hand-to-hand combat, with routine character writing and pedestrian dialogue providing little relief.
But the cast is earnestly committed, and if there are a few too many hokey last-second rescues from certain doom, "Northmen" nevertheless rarely risks curdling into camp. Tech and design contributions are all solid, topped by English d.p. Lorenzo Senatore's attractive widescreen lensing of a story that takes place almost entirely outdoors. While the frequently splendid South African locations aren't always convincing as substitutes, one plot development that might strain geographic belief actually shouldn't: There really is quicksand in Scotland.
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Tradition and modernity gently clash as the cycle of life plays out for a horse-herding family living amid remote mountains in "Heavenly Nomadic," the feature debut of Mirlan Abdykalykov, son of Kyrgyzstan's best-known auteur, Aktan Arym Kubat (who helmed "The Swing," "The Adopted Son" and "The Chimp" under his Russian name, Aktan Abdykalykov). Although this sweet-natured drama may seem simplistic compared to similar-themed Central Asian titles such as Sergei Dvortsevoy's "Tulpan," its visually majestic landscapes and ethnographic detail will entice fest programmers and niche arthouse distribs on the lookout for accessible exotica.
The film won a nod from the Fedeora critics at Karlovy Vary. Three generations of a nomadic family share a cozy yurt pitched on grassy plain surrounded by high peaks. Elderly herdsman Tabyldy (Tabyldy Aktanov) is the head of the household; his wife, Karachach (Anar Nazarkulova), does the cooking and looks after their cute-as-a-button 7-year-old granddaughter, Umsunai (Jibek Baktybekova), while their daughter-in-law, Shaiyr (Taalaikan Abazova), takes their herd to graze and performs the other heavy manual labor it takes to keep them in the horse-milk trade. The absence of other men in the family is keenly felt. Shaiyr's son Ulan (Myrza Subanbekov) is studying architecture in the city, much to Karachach's disapproval, and her husband died some years ago, drowned in a mountain river while trying to save a foal.
Tabyldy still grieves that he could not recover his son's body for a proper burial and spends hours dragging stones from the river to build a memorial. But another male does come into the picture: Ermek (Jenish Kangeldiev), a middleaged meteorologist whose sudden liking for horse milk and friendship with Tabyldy arouses Karachach's suspicion. Although Shaiyr is no longer young, she is still attractive, and Karachach fears that their daughterin- law could leave them.
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LOS ANGELES: Paramount Pictures vicechairman Rob Moore is ready for more Ethan Hunt, strongly endorsing Tom Cruise's recent announcement that "Mission: Impossible 6" is in the works. "We're very happy to be developing this movie with Tom," Moore told Variety. "There's no question that Ethan Hunt deserves another film." The veteran executive was basking in the glow of a $121 million global opening for "Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation" - $56 million in the US and another $65 million from 40 percent of international markets.
"The international brand is as strong as ever," he added. It was the first public comment by Paramount execs - who tend to take a measured approach in discussing future films. Even as "Rogue Nation" opened on Friday, the studio was insisting that its tracking showed a $40 million US opening, even though the final figure turned out to be 40 percent higher.
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