Not sure where these reviews are coming from, saw some lady rambling about "wokeness" and gave it a 1-star review and admittedly didn't watch the show.
I personally thought it was great. I really enjoyed the pace of Valhalla, compared to the slow building up of character arcs and plot in the original. The combat scenes were very well done, and appear to have been produced with a high budget and great thought in mind. The casting is also really good, Bradley Freegard playing King Canute was the perfect fit. If you enjoy shows/movies from this era, Valhalla is an absolute must.
Don't listen to the negative reviews that didn't even bother watching the show. It honestly blows my mind how people have the audacity to rate a show without even giving it a chance. And go on to talk about it in their review.