The Oath

The Oath casts Baltasar Kormákur as Finnur, a successful surgeon who becomes increasingly concerned about his daughter’s (Hera Hilmar’s Anna) relationship with an older and decidedly sketchy guy (Gísli Örn Garðarsson’s Óttar) – with the narrative detailing the rather drastic action Finnur eventually takes to purge the man from his family’s life. Filmmaker Kormákur, working from a script cowritten with Ólafur Egilsson, delivers a slow-moving narrative that’s perhaps just a little too familiar for its own good, as The Oath, in its early stages, is focused on the less-than-fresh problems stemming from Anna’s drug problems (ie it feels like a pretty typical junkie drama) – although such concerns eventually do become moot as the movie shifts gears to a rather radical extent. It goes without saying, then, that The Oath is at its best when focused on Finnur’s progressively frantic efforts at containing the fallout from his aforementioned drastic action, with the movie’s engaging atmosphere heightened by an ongoing inclusion of palpably searing sequences (eg Finnur explains the brutal reality of Óttar’s situation without mincing words). And while the picture’s climactic stretch unfolds precisely as one might’ve anticipated, The Oath has nevertheless long-since established itself as a better-than-average thriller that benefits from its strong performances and Kormákur’s solid direction.

*** out of ****