I’ve always wanted to see this and I heard good things. I mean, it’s directed (at least partially) by the director of Die Hard. How bad can it be?
Actually, it’s not bad, just not great. The sets and costumes are the best part. You can see the money on display in the sets. Where things really fall down is the script. I can’t believe Michael Crichton was involved in this. It just falls flat in so many places. I was bored often, wishing the runtime would hurry up. I didn’t care much for the characters. It mattered little whether they lived or died. I couldn’t understand how Banderas’ protagonist could even get mixed up with these Vikings or why he would do the things he did. Banderas isn’t bad here though. The writing just leaves him hanging.
There were moments of greatness, many scenes having some fun dialogue, flashes of interesting characters, and a few intriguing story elements but it didn’t amount to much in the end. Supposedly, this was a troubled production and it shows in the film. The reshoots, recuts, and tweaking just couldn’t fix a broken story and goal-less hero.