Ragnarok (2013)

Good special effects and visual effects.fine acting. Boring predictable plot with a central flaw. A nest of monsters are supposed to have survived hundreds of years in what is the now Russia/Norway border. However it is clear there were military bases all around the lake and on the island they live in and on.

I caught this movie by accident, and seeing it was set in Norway and acted in Norwegian I just couldn't help but watching it. As a huge Viking-age buff, and a minor in Scandinavian Studies, I was expecting a lot of familiar lore, as promised by the captivating opening.Unfortunately it quickly devolved into a "just OK" family-adventure movie, with too much Jurassic Park and too little Edda.I saw the final twists coming, but that wasn't so bad, as at least I have to give credit to the writer and director for those swerves being well done. Also the family drama subtext was handled in a rather subtle way, while a Hollywood movie would have turned it into the main story arc.All in all, a decent pop-corn movie that should, and could, have been much deeper and rewarding.I see how it may have been a case of misplaced expectations, kinda like watching "Troy" or "300" and hoping to find accurate references to the Homeric poems or to ancient history texts...Gåten Ragnarok is a nice family movie, nothing more, but also nothing less. You won't likely watch it 10 times in the future, but you won't regret having spent time on it, unlike on plenty of other, more popular, expensive and promoted blockbusters.

There are certain things this Scandinavian production has going for it: the actors all do commendable jobs with what they are given; the wild scenery is beautiful; and there a few moments (not many, but a few) of very well orchestrated suspense. But none of that matters because "Ragnarok" simply isn't what its trailer leads one to believe it is, namely a scary monster movie. There is a monster, or at least a big creature which may have inspired certain stories from Norse mythology, but the monster action is decidedly limited and while there occasional moments of tension there are no real scares. I don't think the filmmakers had any real desire to make a scary picture, but rather an adventure story with a few ideas borrowed from American monster movies. The result is incredibly dry, boring, and unsatisfying, particularly the climax. If you're hoping for the kind of explosive grand finale "Jaws" gave us, forget it. Suffice it to say the creature from "Ragnarok" is only dangerous because our human explorers provoke its maternal instincts. As a longtime fan of both monster movies and Viking mythology, I really expected to like "Ragnarok." More's the pity.

Generally, I like this movie. This movie is surely made for family, I mean a happy family with a loving parent and their adorable children. I watch some great Norway movie like The Girl Trilogy, Hunt, Headhunter etc. and I was seriously thought that this movie is one of their kind too. Violence, thriller, mind-boggling but it's totally not. Its a family movie, like other critics said its just some kind of Spielberg's stuff made in Norway. I expecting so much but I still satisfied because it contain some fun adventure, good action, and some suspense moment that make me shudder. You feel weird about a monster movie without violence? I don't think Ultraman have violence too. Anyway I think everyone will like this movie because its just some simple movie with sufficient amount of tension, enjoy it. I like the title Ragnarok, it remind me about an online game I guess.