Review: Erik the Viking (Special Limited Edition)
Blu-ray: Erik the Viking (1989)
Loosely based on Terry Jones book for his son Bill, Erik the Viking is a sort of childrens film with a lot of grown up themes, like… rape and death.
Originally released in 1989 it had a running time of 107 minutes, but being unhappy with the film’s slow pacing, director Jones cut it down to 89 minutes for the VHS release in 1990.
In 2006 Terry Jones was given the opportunity of re-editing the film for its DVD release. He delegated this work to his son Bill, who produced a much shorter 75 minute ‘Director’s Son’s Cut, with re-ordered scenes, tighter pacing and a remixed and re-dubbed soundtrack.
I’ve always loved Jones take on history and this is loosely based upon Norse mythology. It tells the tale of Erik (Tim Robbins), a young Viking who discovers that he doesn’t really want to rape and pillage, and in a fit of guilt over the death of Helga (Samantha Bond), a woman he was about to pillage and rape, he visits the wise woman Freya (Eartha Kitt) to hear that Fenrir the wolf has swallowed the sun, plunging the world into the age of Ragnarök and Erik must go to Asgard to ask the gods to end Ragnarök. But in order to do this he must get the Horn Resounding in the land of Hy-Brasil.
It’s a rollicking tale which seems perfect for kids, except the rapey bits at the beginning may cause some ‘awkard’ questions…. also you can tell that its been re-cut in the shorter version as some scenes are a little ‘jumpy’. As in one person is saying something and thr next minute they are in a post coital embrace. Ahem.
It is packed full of contemporary extras and the commentary with the lovely and much missed Terry Jones and his son Bill is an absolute delight.
BRAND NEW EXTRAS:
- International theatrical release cut in HD (103 mins / 99 mins in PAL)
- “The Director’s Son’s Cut” in SD (79 mins)
- NEW commentary track on the theatrical release cut by film historian and author (“Heavy Metal Movies”) Mike McPadden and comedy writer/producer Aaron Lee
- Commentary track on “The Director’s Son’s Cut” by Terry Jones
- Orginal theatrical trailer
- NEW booklet essay by Neil Mitchell
FEATURES:
- Original “Behind the Scenes”
- The evolution of a director
- Casting
- Creating the look
- Special effects
- Making movie magic in Malta
- Jones and Cleese – A Grand Reunion
- Raw interview footage
Erik the Viking (Special Limited Edition) is released 28th December 2020.
Review by Tina from a disc kindly supplied by Signal One Entertainment via Patriot Films.