“Zack Snyder unleashes a bold and bloody version of Norse mythology in this adult animation” feels like it’s a little on the nose. But it’s an animated series from the director, and it’s about a warrior who has an axe to grind. Yeah, that pun was in the logline.
Twilight of the Gods just released on Netflix this weekend, and I heard so much about it online that I was like, well, I have to take a look. I wasn’t a big fan of Zack Snyder’s director’s cut of Rebel Moon, and I have some opinions when it comes to a lot of his storytelling. So I figured that in an animation setting I might be able to see more of just the storytelling and less of that very clear, very distinct Zack Snyder slow-mo, a lot of the stuff that’s become sort of cliché when it comes to him. I figured we’d get an opportunity to see something maybe a little bit different, or at least something that might resonate a little differently.
Oh, yeah. It’s different.
This Is Not for Kids
Let me give you a warning. I know this is an animated thing, and you saw a picture of animation in the thumbnail. Understand something: this is not for kids. If you’re thinking, oh great, another fantasy thing I can give to my kids to watch, this is by definition adult animation.
I don’t normally hedge my reviews like that, except that I don’t normally review stuff like this. But I’ve made a promise that I’m going to review some more things, so I sat down and binged the whole thing.
There are a lot of adult moments, mainly because you’re dealing with Vikings and you’re dealing with Norse mythology. And by the way, they’re not doing your classic everyday Sunday school Norse mythology. This isn’t Thor from the MCU. This is Norse mythology the way it was actually intended, so there’s a lot of blood, a lot of gore, and shockingly, a lot of sex.
An Axe to Grind
The story is essentially about Sigrid, who’s a half-giant. Her father was a giant, her mother was a human, and she is out for revenge.
Newly engaged to a Viking, she takes him home to Jötunheim, her realm. While she’s there to get married, Thor shows up with Baldr, and they’re both looking for Loki. As it turns out, in his rage, which if you know anything about mythology is very common for Thor, he wreaks havoc and kills the entire village, sparing Sigrid and her husband only by simply overlooking them.
That takes her on an entire adventure of revenge, fueled by Loki’s desire to bring about Ragnarok. And ultimately it goes to a place that I wasn’t really expecting.
I’m not going to go into all the story beats. Watch the thing if you want. Again, watch out for your kids.
Take the Slow-Mo Away and There’s a Story Here
I need you to understand, it’s not bad. The storytelling is a little stiff in places, but overall, I was right. When you take just Zack Snyder’s story, and you don’t bog it down with some of the cinematic things we’re used to seeing, the ones that have become so cliché you almost can’t get past them, there’s a story here.
It’s definitely a variation. I’d say it’s the same kind of variation that happened in 300. Now, Zack Snyder didn’t write 300, that was Frank Miller. But it’s got that same feel, in terms of taking something that is mythology, historical, whatever, and ultimately making it more action-packed, more action-driven. You skew it for an audience that has more modern sensibilities.
It stars Sylvia Hoeks as the voice of Sigrid, and Stuart Martin as Leif, her husband. Well, sorry, her betrothed. Pilou Asbæk plays Thor. Of course, you’re going to recognize Rahul Kohli as Egill. And then there’s a whole litany of other characters, all of whom are doing an amazing job setting the tone.
There were really only a couple of times where I thought the script deviated into sounding a little modern. That’s that whole Xena and Hercules of old factor, where it’s people from a fantasy setting speaking a somewhat more modernized English. It really happened once or twice. Nothing to take me out of it.
The Look, and the Slow Motion That Earns Its Credit
It’s eight episodes, a half hour each, and they’re done in a very modern animated style. By that I mean they’re not animated with lines around the outsides, like you’d see in X-Men ‘97 or some other popular animation styles. This goes for that more modern, almost flat style. But it isn’t CG. It’s funny, at one point I said to myself, is this similar to Klaus? But they don’t use any of the real hand-drawn portions of that. You can definitely tell this is a very digitally put together series. Which, again, isn’t a dig against it.
I do love the fact that there are a couple of moments in the big fight scenes where they give you a type of slow motion, which I give more credit than most people might want to give. You have to understand, doing slow motion in animation is not easy. It’s really difficult, because in essence you’re now animating three to four times as many moments to get it super slowed down and still keep it smooth. So definitely kudos to the team for that.
The Seer, Odin, and the Ending I Didn’t See Coming
It tells a solid story. And what’s funny is it doesn’t go off course, though you take a couple of rabbit trails here and there. In essence, you follow them as they go through various realms. She pulls together her own crew, and she swears upon everything that she will see the death of Thor. But then it gets deeper than that.
The seer is one of my favorite characters. She’s black magic, but she’s also got divination. And at one point she gets called up by Odin, who wants to have a conversation. Odin, by the way, is voiced by John Noble, so we get a really, really great performance from him.
He sits there and has a conversation with her, and he essentially says, I want to be able to see the future. I want you to tell me, how does my son survive? Do we survive?
She shows him a glimpse of the future, and it costs him his memories. He has two birds, one that sees the future and one that sees the past, and she kills the bird that sees the past. She herself dies as well, only to be resurrected as a sort of little demigod.
But when she shows him the future, the downfall of the Norse gods is Jesus Christ.
Oh, yeah. You get to see the crucifixion. Then they show the temple of the Norse gods and all this other stuff, and it crossfades into a modern day, a city with cars and everything, and a church. It looks like a cathedral building. And I’m like, well, I definitely didn’t see that coming. She tells him, no, I’ve seen the fall. This is where it starts.
The Verdict
Twilight of the Gods lands at a solid 6.5 out of 10 on the Know-It-All Index. That’s the entire series, all eight episodes.
Not for anything else other than the fact that the story is a little broken at times when you try to keep track. The animation’s beautiful. You’ll enjoy the series’ overall story. The subplots sort of go off the rails, but for the most part it’s not bad. It’s a fun time.
I cannot hedge this enough: don’t let your kids watch it. When I say there are mature and adult moments, there are mature and adult moments to the point that I’m almost shocked they’re able to show this on Netflix. Now, it’s streaming service rules, it’s the wild west when it comes to streaming, and you can get away with a whole lot. But man, had I known going in what I was going to experience, I might have rethought reviewing this. Since I’m here, in for a penny, in for a pound.
If you’ve seen Twilight of the Gods, let me know what you thought, because holy man, it is insane. The conversation lives in the comments on the video above.
