This week on "Justin Hall At The Movies," I'll be reviewing an epic tale of revenge and destiny in "The Northman."

The Northman is the third film from writer/director Robert Eggers after The Witch (2016) and The Lighthouse (2019). Eggers' films generally are very stark in their look and feature bizarre characters. That's certainly no exception with this film.

Eggers has crafted a bold, bloody and visually ambitious effort that also works equally as well as a character-driven piece that surrounds us in its rich and satisfyingly epic world and doesn't let go for 137 minutes.

As the movie opens, it's set in 9th century Norse and it centers around a young boy named Amleth. Amleth's father is King Aurvandill War-Raven (Ethan Hawke) who has just returned from conquering other nations to his son and his queen, Gudrun (Nicole Kidman).

Aurvandill's brother, Fjolnir (Claes Bang), leads a group of men to brutally murder the king and young Amleth escapes but not before vowing to avenge his father's death.

Amleth is discovered by a group of Vikings and he's trained to be a brutal conqueror like they are. He later encounters a slave named Olga (Anya Taylor-Joy), who is supposedly a sorceress. The two of them fall in love and she decides to help Amleth on his vengeful quest.

The movie is loaded with sensational yet gory sights especially in some of the battle scenes which definitely earn the R rating. As I watching the film, I was genuinely surprised Mel Gibson didn't direct. It has such an unrelenting ferocity that's worthy of other bloody epics like Braveheart.

As for the rest of the movie, it leapfrogs between dialogue in English and Norse. Some may find this a bit unsettling, but the performances are still effective in either language. Some may find the camp factor turned up to 11.

Eggers dazzles with some haunting, bizarre visuals that are equal parts beautiful as they are disturbing. Everything from the muted cinematography to the spectacular production design to the massive score helps encapsulates Eggers' vision.

The performances are also outstanding as we see these actors not afraid to be daring in material that demands it, every second they're on screen. Taylor-Joy in particular brings a lot of heart to her role as a woman wanting to be with her live even though she may or may not know his inevitable destiny.

The Northman is not for everyone, but it is a film that deserves enormous admiration for its grungy yet authentic visual aesthetic, its remarkable acting, terrific directing from Eggers, superb technical quality and the violence is unflinching.

The Northman is one of the year's best films.

Grade: A (Rated R for strong bloody violence, some sexual content and nudity.)