Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is persuasive as a warrior with troublesome loyalties and a dry sense of humour. We rate the combination, though Gods of Egypt is a reminder that his commitment cannot make thin characters interesting.
Fi1m perspective
In Gods of Egypt (2016), Horus has important exchanges that sound like instructions for the next stretch of action. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau plays him with commitment, but the dialogue leaves little room for a character to emerge. We were frustrated by those exchanges because the actors kept working at lines that gave them so little to play. It is a poor film, and it exposes a limit worth acknowledging: Coster-Waldau needs more from a screenplay than the opportunity to look capable in a fight.
The career took him from a breakthrough in Danish cinema with Nightwatch (1994) to his first major international film role in Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down (2001). The decisive turn was television: Game of Thrones (2011–2019) brought wide recognition as Jaime Lannister. Here his physical presence and dry wit served someone whose arrogance did not rule out loyalty. The interest came from having both qualities in the same man, without needing to make him easy company.
Alex Proyas’s Gods of Egypt gives him another fantasy role, but little of that complication. His Horus, Brenton Thwaites’s Bek and Gerard Butler’s Set need sharper differences than the screenplay supplies. Butler at least applies enough conviction to suit the excess, while Coster-Waldau has too little help from the writing to make his part distinctive. There are enjoyably excessive images, and the cast’s willingness deserves to be recognised, even as the fights become a chore. We would not recommend it as an introduction to what he can do.
His dry wit matters because it gives us a reason to watch a warrior when there is no fighting to be done. That is a quality action and fantasy can use, provided the screenplay allows it to show. We are less interested in seeing him endure another run of clumsy dialogue than in seeing him given awkward choices to play. For an introduction, choose Jaime rather than Horus.
Biography
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is a Danish actor. He graduated from the Danish National School of Performing Arts in Copenhagen in 1993. His breakthrough role in Denmark came in the film Nightwatch (1994).
He played Jaime Lannister in the HBO series Game of Thrones (2011–2019), for which he received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. His film roles include Black Hawk Down (2001), Mama (2013) as Lucas Desange, and Gods of Egypt (2016) as Horus. He is a UNDP Goodwill Ambassador.
