Arctic

It's not every movie that can manage to feel bleak and hopeless, and yet at the same time be inspiring and beautiful - but "Arctic" pulls off that difficult and unusual combination superbly. It's a very simple story, and the basic plot has been done before. Mads Mikkelsen plays the lone survivor of a plane crash in the Arctic. He's set up the shell of the plane as a makeshift survival camp, he fishes and he eats them raw, and he falls asleep and wakes up and does it again. I have to confess that the beginning of the movie was a bit of a weak point for me. It started too abruptly. There was no introduction to the character Mikkelsen was playing, no explanation of how long he had been in this situation. The movie simply opens - and he's just there. I would have liked a little bit more information than that. But Mikkelsen's portrayal of this character did draw me into the story. There's little in it that's particularly exciting - it's just the very real and raw struggle of this man to survive; it's a testimony to the human will to survive even seemingly impossible situations. The movie picks up a bit of a spark with the introduction of a second character - a young woman who survives the crash of what I assume was a helicopter sent to rescue Overgard (Mikkelsen's character's name.) She's badly injured, and Overgard becomes her nurse and companion, desperately trying to keep her alive, and finally deciding that he needs to try to hike out of this situation, dragging the young woman on a sled behind him.

The rugged barrenness of the Arctic landscape (this was filmed in Iceland) is beautiful and haunting - and it definitely adds to the hopeless feeling of the movie. Mikkelsen does a good job as Overgard. For a movie with very little dialogue between the only two characters, I thought there was a wonderful sense of that mysterious thing called chemistry between Mikkelsen and Icelandic actress Maria Thelma as the woman Overgard commits to saving. You can catch elements of other movies that influenced this story. I had thoughts of both "Alive" and "127 Hours" as I watched this. You can add pretty much any other survival type movie you can think of. So this isn't particularly original or unique, and I have to confess that a part of me really didn't want to like this for some reason. And yet it drew me in. It kept my attention. I wanted to see how this was going to end up. Mikkelsen's character - sacrificing so much and caring so much about the life of this young woman - was, indeed, inspiring.

As the beginning of the movie was rather abrupt, so too was the end of the movie. The ending was too sudden, and we learned nothing of the ultimate fate of the two characters. I've also seen so-called "survivalists" criticizing the decisions Overgard made - but not everyone is a survivalist. Perhaps Overgard simply wasn't, and made the best decisions he could in the face of impossible circumstances for which he wasn't really prepared. This is a good movie. I'd rate it as a 7/10.

I usually like watching these types of 'survival' movies even though they always have the same plot, events and almost everything else is similar. This movie did not have any surprising elements that I hadn't seen before, but for some reason I didn't feel bored while watching it. I enjoyed it quite a lot even though you can expect what's coming. I think it's all because of the perfect performance of the actor. It's not a masterpiece, but it sure is worth your time. A great movie really.

A great movie about resilience and our hypothetical ability to survive in a hostile environment. The film is captivating: you will be cold, you will be scared, you will be hungry, you will be exhausted, even within the cushioned armchair of your favorite movie theater. And Mads Mikkelsen is excellent, as usual.

If you want to watch a movie with alot of people then skip this one as there are only two actors, Mads Mikkelsen and Maria Thelma Smáradóttir. If you want great conversations then you can skip it also as it's only Mads Mikkelsen that speaks a word every now and then. But if you like survival movies, man against nature, if you like great scenic shots (okay it's the arctic so it's white but nonetheless it's beautiful) then this movie is worth watching. The biggest reason for that is Mads Mikkelsen, he did an excellent job (like usual) playing his character. And even if there are only two actors and not much interaction it still remains enjoyable to watch as there is that constant suspense of two desperate human beings balancing between life and death. I like survival movies, it always makes me think about what I would do if it was me stuck there.

Patient, persistent & poignant in just the right doses, and powered by Mads Mikkelsen's effortlessly evocative performance, Arctic is one of the best films about a man stranded in the wilderness that's crafted with restraint, told with finesse & is incessantly captivating from start to finish. A promising debut for its first-time filmmaker, and another impressive addition to the Danish actor's oeuvre.