Numb

It's not as bad as some would have you to believe. Beautiful scenery, acting is fair. It's worth the watch if it's free.

Four disposable a-holes go for a whiny stroll in the woods. These under-attired dopes are searching for treasure, but forget to bring equipment, have never seen a GPS, and can't read a map. Success is all but assured.

Do they get the gold? Do they kill one another in the process? Do they ever fricken shut up?

Who cares.

Three stars for the scenery.

My favorite genre is survival wilderness thrillers. I don't come across good ones very often. Numb was one of the good ones. It ended up being nothing like what I thought it was going to be. Overall, a good watch

"Numb" is physical proof a movie can revolve entirely around unlikeable, selfish ninnies who do nothing but stupid things, and still succeed as a visceral, edge-of-your-seat thriller.

Financially-strapped couple Will and Dawn travel to what is apparently the frigid Canadian North (it's never stated) for his new job.

They pick up secretive brother and sister hitchhikers Lee and Cheryl, and almost immediately happen upon a dying old man who carries clues to a buried fortune in gold coins. So they all decide to go on a treasure hunt.

After this really compelling setup, everything gets stupid right away.

The four set off on a hike through the frozen wilderness wearing nothing but light winter jackets, and bearing nothing but - seriously - a crowbar from the trunk of the car.

No hats, no snowshoes, no gloves, no scarves, no provisions... not even a shovel to dig up the damn gold, should they find it.

They bicker. They argue. They threaten each other, especially whenever one of them exhibits a glimmer of wisdom and suggests turning back.

These are four garbage humans. Really, you'll be rooting for the winter with this film.

And that's a good thing. What a terrific job this movie does in portraying the frozen North. "The Blair Witch Project" has nothing on the fantastic "lost in the woods" scenario this movie offers, and how it takes a physical and mental toll on these four people.

And its scenes of the actual Northern wilderness are almost indistinguishable from studio sets that would be obvious in a lesser picture. There's one scene in which a character is submerged in a river, and you'll go, "How the hell did they do that?"

While the four main characters lack in, geez, any iota of good sense, the performances and direction are almost unbelievably top notch.

The four lead characters are all ninnies, to be sure. But their actors bring to them real life and depth.

Aleks Paunovic was particularly effective as sensitive ex-con Lee. He really sells his character's tragically flawed Zen approach to life.

As the weather turns colder and their characters suffer the devastating effects of hypothermia, the actors, combined with realistic makeup effects and creative framing, really convince the viewer of the desperate nature of their situation.

"Numb," unfortunately, falls apart in the end, as all good movie ideas do when they're not fully thought out.

But it's a helluva ride getting there, and you'll be glad you invested 90 minutes of your time with it.

And that may not be a compliment.

As I have indicated in other reviews, it is hard to review Canadian films entirely on their own merits. Frankly,if you did, they would not fare especially well. Because the Canadian film industry is one of those odd businesses which does not have to survive entirely on its own merits. Because of tax breaks, dollar exchanges, and geographical placement, the Canunk film machine is a lot like the president of a company that got the job not on talent but because he was the nephew or son in law of the Chairman of the Board. He can do the job. But there are also many others who can do it better.

Typical of the genre, we have a minimalist cast, largely unknown (although Bamber could pass for an international leading man) and a story which (heavy sigh) is a re-imagining of something older and wiser, (in this case Treasure of Sierra Madre, more or less.) Where the film gets props it is for the attempt (and I am choosing my words carefully) to turn the Canadian climate into a natural horror backdrop. This is somewhat clever and works somewhat well. To the point where you almost expect to see in the closing credits a SFX nod to "Mother Nature."

That said, the script is not especially sharp, nor is the acting. The brilliant and unappreciated TV series Fortitude did a much better job of making a natural climate seem menacing and scary. (Recommended if you missed it.)

Plus, (again heavy sigh) the film suffers from the standards "tells" one sees in most Canadian indies. The cinematography, the lighting, is perfect. Literally perfect. You get the feeling that the Director refused to shoot on any day that was overcast or had bad weather. Because in 40 years of trying, Canadian film-makers have never quite grasped that sometimes imperfection makes a story more credible. Even the outfits worn by the actors (until the final 15 minutes) look like they were replaced each morning, brand new, from the local Walmart.

Other IMDb members have commented on the fake reviews (a true failing in the IMDb system, especially with obscure films that get few reviews) so we will not go there.

And yes the film did win awards but (you guessed it) from a Canadian Award group. Essentially a group that had to find SOMEONE to give the awards to each year -- a paradox within a conundrum. Within an industry created by accountants.