The Big Picture · Discussion · Top Five · Interview
April 22, 2022/ 89 min/ Sean Fennessey · Chris Ryan
Sean and Chris Ryan dig into Robert Eggers' Viking epic, each draft a top-5 revenge-movie list, then Sean sits down with Eggers himself. Bobby Wagner produces.
20 films across 4 segments.
AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.
‘The Northman’Sean and Chris Ryan
Eggers' $90-100M Viking epic: Amleth (Alexander Skårsgard), exiled after his uncle murders his father (Ethan Hawke), grows up to avenge him, kill the uncle, and save his mother (Nicole Kidman). Chris calls it the most interesting movie he's seen in a while; both praise the performances and say the film drags in places under its own research and effort. Also stars Anya Taylor-Joy and Björk.
Eggers' debut; the historical-accuracy streak they trace forward to The Northman.
Sean's example of Eggers' obsessive research; Chris finds it the funnier of the two on a rewatch with closed captions on.
Chris's Coppola comparison for Eggers' insistence on getting exactly what's in his head onto the screen, echoing Ethan Hawke's own reason for taking the role.
The other sword-and-shield epic about a man stripped of everything who fights his way home; Sean notes even Eggers told him he has to give it up to this one.
Sean's reference for the multiple points of view The Northman uses to complicate its own vengeance story.
Chris Ryan's Top 5 Revenge MoviesNo. 1 first
No. 1: picked for how much time Tarantino gives Bud, Elle, and Bill to explain themselves before the Bride gets to them.
No. 2 (paired with The Limey): John Boorman, Lee Marvin as a man avenging his own betrayal by his partner and wife.
No. 2 (paired with Point Blank): Steven Soderbergh, Terence Stamp avenging his daughter's death; both play with chronology to get inside a mind fixed on vengeance.
No. 3: Brian De Palma's Stephen King adaptation, an inversion where the torment comes first and the telekinetic payback arrives at the end.
No. 4: the version of this story where the stakes and villain are cleanest; Chris calls Ridley Scott the most stable, prolific studio director working on this scale.
No. 5: Tony Scott, Denzel Washington as a bodyguard who unleashes hell on Mexico City after his charge is kidnapped.
Sean Fennessey's Top 5 Revenge MoviesNo. 1 first
No. 1: Sean's favorite Sergio Leone, Charles Bronson's Harmonica seeking a revenge the film withholds the reason for until the end.
No. 2: Sean's Tarantino pick, built around Shoshanna as a projectionist annihilating Nazi leadership.
No. 3: Clint Eastwood after his family is killed; Sean calls it the film that set the course for Eastwood's own directing career.
No. 4: the original, not the Dwayne Johnson remake; Joe Don Baker as a sheriff cleaning out a corrupt hometown.
No. 5: Abel Ferrara's rape-revenge film starring Zoë Lund; Sean calls it fascinating and influential despite how hard it is to watch.
In conversation
Richard Fleischer's Kirk Douglas film; Eggers says The Northman's opening deliberately echoes its homecoming feast, minus the raucousness.
The revenge movie Eggers says convinced him the genre still works, watched a year after his first trip to Iceland.
Eggers' answer to the show's closing question: a rewatch he still rates, Anthony Hopkins' over-the-top performance included.
Also mentioned raised along the way
In passing (review) Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's ApocalypseBraveheartAmbulanceSonic the Hedgehog 2The Lord of the Rings
Rape-revenge and grindhouse touchstones I Spit on Your GraveThe Last House on the LeftStraw DogsRolling Thunder
More Tony Scott Enemy of the StateDominoBeverly Hills Cop II
Eastwood Pale RiderDirty Harry
Tarantino's revenge streak Once Upon a Time in HollywoodReservoir DogsPulp FictionJackie BrownDeath ProofDjango UnchainedThe Hateful EightKill Bill: Vol. 1
Eggers on Bergman Smiles of a Summer NightThe Seventh Seal
In passing (interview) Picnic at Hanging Rock
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV Moon KnightVikingsThe Queen's Gambit
Ads FanDuelCarvanaNetflix FIFA World Cup Launch EditionBoar's HeadPepsiSam's ClubWhite Claw