Kon-Tiki (2012) - Heyerdahl's great adventure retold wonderfully

♥♥♥♥♥

+ Best Adventure Movie of the Year
+ Best Norwegian Film of the Year

The fantastic poster for Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg's Kon-Tiki

Most unusually (for a film of today), Kon-Tiki was shot simultaneously in Norwegian and English with the same cast, so the English version could be screened in English-speaking countries. This review is based on the Norwegian version, (which I recommend, simply because it is more naturalistic.)

Thor Heyerdahl can neither swim, sail or use a sextant, but he's got a bold theory about where the Polynesians originated from and a body full of daring and lust for adventure, which is going to help him prove his theory in practicality.

Kon-Tiki is a fantastically handsome film, which quickly grips its audience with the natural beauty of its sets and locations and injects us into its relatively simple, true story about having a wild idea and the crazy will of steel to make it happen.

There's good acting across the board here: Particularly Pål Sverre Hagen (Ragnarok (2013)) as Heyerdahl and Agnes Kittelsen (Happy Happy/Sykt Lykkelig (2010)) as his beautiful, home-bound wife, as well as Anders Baasmo Christiansen (North/Nord (2009)) as the co-sailor, who fears for the mission and for his life. - He is the only one of the sailor-characters who is totally recreated fictionally for the film, and the way his character has come to be is an important and good addition to the gallery.

Kon-Tiki is adventurous, at times nail-bitingly suspenseful and visually stunning. It was Oscar-nominated as Best Foreign Film, but lost to Michael Haneke's Amour (2012). This aside, it is still one of the best Norwegian movies ever made. Period.

It is directed by the two big stars of Norwegian film-making in the new millennium, Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg, who directed the great, impressive WWII-resistance movie Max Manus: Man of War/Max Manus (2008). They also directed French producer magnate Luc Besson's curious, unsuccessful Bandidas (2006), but have since Kon-Tiki been a hot ticket in Hollywood again and have now been hired to direct the next Pirates-movie, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017).

Related posts:

Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg: 2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

Top 10: The best adventure movies reviewed by Film Excess to date  

- There's sharks in Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg's Kon-Tiki? The anwer: Yes, there's awesome shark scenes in the film

Watch the great trailer with English subtitles here

Cost: 15.5 mil. $

Box office: 22.8 mil. $

= Flop

[Kon-Tiki is the most expensive Norwegian film ever made, a huge endeavor filmed over 3 months in 6 different countries. It made 14.1 mil. $ of its total gross in Norway, which is absolutely incredible in a country with only 5.1 mil. people. Its American gross was 1.5 mil. $. Although financially a flop, the film is still very ballsy and successful in many other respects, namely critically and quality-wise.]

What do you think of Kon-Tiki?

Other great sailing-adventures you think are recommendable?