Kon-Tiki
Starring: Pål Sverre Hagen, Gustaf Skarsgård, Agnes Kittelsen
Directed By: Joachim Rønning, Espen Sandberg
Reviewed by Brendan Dousi
[rating: 3/5]
It’s interesting to see when foreign films pander toward a more western market. I actually didn’t think this would be one of those films and wasn’t sure what to expect. Turns out they went full-boar with the pandering and just decided to make this Denmark/Norwegian/Swedish co-production a completely English-spoken film. While it’s a good thing for this film to reach a wider audience, it still seems like an exceedingly odd choice.
Kon-Tiki follows the real life story of Thor Heyerdahl (Pål Sverre Hagen) and his quest to prove that the people of Polynesia actually floated there on a raft from Peru. Being constantly rejected by esteemed publications for such an outrageous theory, Thor assembles a team of blonde Scandinavian men just as crazy as he is to put it to the test by building their own raft and floating on it to Polynesia, much to the dismay of Thor’s wife, Liv (Agnes Kittelsen).
The film takes a little while to get into the swing of things with at least half of the movie spent following Thor as he gathers support for his expedition instead of actually focusing on the expedition itself. This is more forgivable, however, when you realise that the alternative is two hours on a raft. The journey getting to the expedition is a fun one, at least, with quite a humorous and almost quirky tone as it gives us a chance to get to know the main character Thor and be won over by his charms. Once on the raft, things pick up as everything possible goes wrong and Thor and his crew have to deal with problems ranging from a cheeky wire-clipping parrot to a fearsome shiver of Sharks (that’s the correct term, I googled it). Things get pretty intense and you’re with these characters every step of the way, but you may find yourself not wanting to spend too much longer on the raft. Luckily, the film is smart enough to leap closer to the end of the journey just as it starts bordering too much on ‘this is just a bunch of guys griping at each other on a boat’ territory.
While this is a very enjoyable film, there are still a number of distractions that audience members may need to overcome to appreciate it fully. First is the aforementioned choice to make it entirely in English. Yes, the thick-accented Norwegian couple are having a private conversation on the phone in English, get over it. Second is the nagging thought that all of these pale white men sitting shirtless, hat-less and sunscreen-less on this raft are definitely going to die of skin cancer. Thirdly is that the majority of the team are Scandinavian men with bronzed, godlike physiques and spend a good portion of their screen-time only in tiny shorts or underwear. It’s ok, though, their gross hobo-beards balance it out for you. Finally, and most importantly, you need to wrap your head around why on earth someone would risk so many lives to prove a theory about Peruvians migrating to Polynesia. I get that it helps us understand where we came from, but it doesn’t seem worthy of risking your life, let alone others. Even if it is worth that, they didn’t really do a great job portraying it.
Kon-Tiki is definitely one of the more accessible foreign films available, so if you’re wanting to build up that culture-cred feel free to cash in that gift card your Aunt gave you for that Art-House cinema down the road. It’s actually a pretty fun and rewarding ride, even if it does get a bit rickety in the stronger currents.
We have 10 double passes for Kon-Tiki to giveaway – to enter please email with ‘Kon-Tiki’ in the subject title and your contact details in the message. Only one entry per person.
