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Ragnarok is nothing to do with Thor or any Marvel movies, showing us the following text at the start: “Ragnarok: In Norse mythology, the definition of the end of the world. It begins with natural disasters, and culminates in the great battle between gods and the giants.”
Oh, and Midnight City by M83 in the background; just one of their tracks in this.
New kids Laurits (the cool one) and Magne (the geeky one) have just arrived in town, with Magne sat next to geeky hippy Isolde in his class at school – who, since she’s an environmentalist, she’s also rather nuts – and somehow along the way, he’s granted special powers, to the point where he’s able to bend her damaged bike wheel back into place. I once had a similar experience where a thief broke into my car by getting something to actually wrench the driver’s door open, so the top of the Fiat Punto door pointed straight up!
At the garage, one of the guys opened the door, put his foot on the middle of the inside of the door and used all his strength to bend it back. Brilliant!! I could now close my door! 😀
Meanwhile, Laurits is sat next to hot blonde Gry, yet anyone with a knowledge in ’80s teen movies knows that it’s the geeks that will inherit the Earth!
But before we get into Breakfast Club-style shenanigans, let’s get on with the plot because Magne seems to know things…. such as he also thinks they should close the window. What’s coming?
And why is the headmistress’ husband Vidar taking an interest in Magne? What does he know? We know he’s involved with the power plant nearby, but what’s with his odd approach to livestock?
Some, all or none of these questions will be answered, and even if they are, they may or may not make sense, but so far I have watched two episodes, and I will certainly check out the rest of the series, as I want to know how things are going to turn out, and I’m glad that it’s a fairly short (by Netflix standard) 6 episodes, each at around 45 minutes in length. There are some ten-part series which really could be wrapped up in 6 or 7 episodes quite easily.
Plus, they have gorgeous backdrops of Edda, in Norway. Well, I thought that was a real place, but Wikipedia tells me that Edda “is an Old Norse term that has been attributed by modern scholars to the collective of two Medieval Icelandic literary works”, and Old Norse language is heard in this programme. Who by? Ah, you’ll have to watch to find out because it’s all rather bizarre….
Now, when it comes to the dialogue, it’s in several languages including the original Norwegian. I have to admit that while I normally watch foreign movies and dramas in their original language, I did see this in English, as it was easier to do so while trying to make a lot of notes for my review. The English is performed by Norwegian actors, so you are still getting the same accent.
Sometimes the subtitles don’t quite match up with the dialogue, which is a bit odd, but I guess with both, you get the full picture. Such as, in the supermarket, the old woman who runs it says something bizarre to Magne while he’s shopping with Isolde. Isolde tells him “Don’t worry about it”, while the subtitles say “She’s a bit weird”.
At the time of posting this, I have only seen episodes 1 and 2 but will catch the rest very soon!
Ragnarok is not available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but is on Netflix from Friday January 31st.
Episodes 1 & 2: 8/10
Series Directors: Mogens Hagedorn, Jannik Johansen
Producer: Stine Meldgaard Madsen
Writers: Simen Alsvik, Emilie Lebech Kaae, Adam Price, Christian Gamst Miller-Harris, Marietta von Hausswolff von Baumgarten, Jacob Katz Hansen
Creator: Adam Price
Music: Halfdan E
Cast:
Magne: David Stakston
Laurits: Jonas Strand Gravli
Isolde: Ylva Bjørkaas Thedin
Fjor: Herman Tømmeraas
Saxa: Theresa Frostad Eggesbø
Gry: Emma Bones
Turid: Henriette Steenstrup
Vidar: Gísli Örn Garðarsson
Ran: Synnøve Macody Lund
Erik: Odd-Magnus Williamson
Oscar: Tani Dibasey
Hilde: Kornelia Eline Skogseth
Wenche: Eli Anne Linnestad
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.