The Film:
When it was first released, the cut used was not the cut that director Terry Jones had wanted. He had joined the editing process on the film quite late on, not realising that the production was locked into a contract for a release date in London and as a result the film was ultimately unfinished. Instead he would try and fix the problem for the international release, but to his horror, 250 prints had already been done in America so he had no choice but to leave the film as it was. 17 years later, when Terry Jones was recording the audio commentary for this release, he happened to mention how he would love to make an edit to his own liking, which Alex Agran from Arrow Films, agreed to fund, allowing Jones' son, Bill, to re-edit and recut the film.
Erik The Viking stars Tim Robbins (Shawshank Redemption) as the title character, a viking who is sick of raping, murdering and pillaging. After accidentally killing Helga (Samantha Bond), he decides he must do what is right and gets together his villagers for the ultimate adventure. He must go to Valhalla and ask the gods to end the Age of Ragnorok and allow his people to see sunlight again. Other characters to join him on his quest include Antony Sher as Loki, Gary Cady as Keitel, and my favourite of the bunch Tim McInnery as Sven the Berserker.
Having only previously seen the theatrical version on VHS when I was about 15/16 in the mid to late nineties, this Director's Son's Cut manages to tighten up the story and pace the film a film a bit better, though do bear in mind that it is fourteen minutes shorter than the theatrical cut (which is also inlcuded in this release). The film is good, but it just isn't as funny as I would expect a film from an ex-python to be. There are few laugh out loud scenes and most of the jokes run too long and fall a little flat. The acting isn't great either with this being one of Tim Robbins worst performances. He really doesn't belong in comedy. Unfortunately for me, despite being a good and watchable film, it just failed to hit my (admittedly rather high) expectations.
Picture:
Arrow Films have presented us with the an anamorphic transfer set at 1.78:1. It's a nice print but there is quite a lot of dirt in the image, perhaps trying to give the film a gritty feel, yet leaving it feeling a little soft. There was also some minor edge enhancement evident, most noticeable during the rowing scenes. It's a decent enough print that is certainly better than VHS, but I imagine it could be a lot cleaner looking.
Audio:
Arrow have provided us with a selection of two soundtracks. We have the choice of a remixed English Dolby Digital 5.1 track and the original English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo track. For review purposes I listened to the 5.1 track and like the picture, it was decent but could have been improved. The surrounds are used to a rather minimal effect and didn't really make enough use of the LFE channel. Dialogue was clear though and volume levels were consistent throughout. English subtitles have been included, but only for the Director's Son's Cut.
Extras:
We have been given a two disc set which features some nice extras.
We start off with an audio commentary with director Terry Jones and who appears to be a moderator, Giles Wiseman. The commentary is very informative and mostly includes Jones just pottering along at his own pace telling us all aspects of how the film came to light aswell as a few interesting anecdotes. Wiseman is ultimately very quiet but when Jones does appear to struggle for something to say, he is quick to ask a question and keep the commentary running at a reasonable pace. The commentary is available on both cuts of the film but do note there are a lot of quiet points on the theatrical version due to the longer running time.
Next up on disc one we have an interview with Terry Jones and his son Bill. Terry talks to us about writing stories for his children when they were five and how Bill wanted a continous plot, resulting in Erik The Viking. He also talks about turning it into a film, how he was sad it got a 12 cetificate by the BBFC (this DVD is a 15 though) and what it was like to have his film edited by his son. Bill only gets a couple of lines to express his fun at the opportunity. The interview runs for seven minutes, 22 seconds.
The final extra on disc one is an image gallery that runs for one minute, 23 seconds. Set inside a fairytale book, the gallery would've been a heck of a lot better set to the films score, rather than being presented in silence.
The rest of the extras are on disc two.
We start off with a series of a six feature reports:
- The Evolution Of A Director (4:20)
- The Casting Of A Comedy/Adventure (8:44)
- The Special Effects Of Erik The Viking (3:26)
- Making Movie Magic On Malta (3:01)
- Jones & Cleese: A Grand Reunion (4:42)
- Creating The Look (3:37)
They are all pretty self explanatory, and are short vignettes narrated by an American guy causing me to think they were made for US television to publicise the film. Thankfully, instead of being full of backslapping like todays similar offerings, these are actually interesting and insightful into different sctions of the film.
Next up are some extended cast interviews:
- John Cleese (3:40)
- Danny Schiller (2:46)
- Terry Jones (8:28)
- Charles McKeown (2:34)
These aren't anything great but are a nice thing to have on the disc as we hear what it was like for four different people on the set of the film. Worth a watch.
We finish off the extras with a half hour making of featurette. Made for American television, the featurette re-iterates what we have already heard in the feature reports, albeit without repeating the same footage.
