So I did end up rewatching this recently. Still as great as the first time, but would say some of the impact I felt the first time was lost just a bit.
And I still absolutely loved the movie. I loved pretty much everything about it - the tone, atmosphere, cinematography, sound & music (the score was a definite standout on its own), directing, even the brutality to an extent, which just served the purpose in showing how things might have actually been back then. And I especially appreciated how much mysticism and Norse mythology there was - just enough that it added such a huge amount of both "cool factor" and "dread" to it.
So incredibly immersive, and the way Eggers took us into its world in the opening minutes was done so well, I got sucked into it almost as soon as it started. And that scene pictured above with the wolf's head costume was not only insane but pretty much the moment that the movie grabbed me by the proverbial throat and let me know that this was going to be a heck of an intense ride.
Give Eggers all of the historical epics from now on, I say. He'd be the perfect director for a number of other historical stories as has been mentioned, but if I had to single anything out, it'd be the ancient Greek stories with monsters like the minotaur, hydra, Medusa, etc. A dark take on that material from Eggers would be amazing no doubt. Or anything from ancient Egypt would be equally cool.
