rj-27

Every survival story, if done well, puts you in the place of the person's struggle and travails. Some do this better than others. I likely would not have decided to view this if not for the casting of Mads Mikkleson in the lead role. The man is one compelling actor.

The abbreviated introduction to the survival situation - we are basically dumped into the crash site with Mikkleson carving a distress signal out of the ice - is brilliant. No need for a long intro as to how or why he found himself in this pickle. Likewise, the abbreviated ending allows you to accurately assume the outcome.

It is the hour and a half in between that draws you in and captures the intensity of the need to survive. But more than that, it is a story of a man's need to have more to live for than just his own life. Early on, a rescue helicopter appears in response to his distress signals, gets caught in a nasty wind shear and crashes. The pilot is dead on impact and the female copilot is severely injured. The added element of rescuing the would be rescuer now becomes paramount in his struggle and makes this drama all the more compelling. Now he has her needs to consider and this is where the story line gets really interesting. Her complete helplessness and reliance on him makes him do things he would never have needed to do were it only his own life at stake. You find yourself asking the same questions - what now do I do? Do I make every effort to keep her alive or do I press on alone, knowing it will likely kill us both?

Well worth the watch.

I like Clive Owen and his acting style. I liked the premise this movie starts out with. So much for what got me to watch this movie.

While the idea of widowed dad raising son(s) is nothing new - The Rifleman TV show made this situation look almost desirable - this plot line attempted to go where no man has gone before. Try raising a super high energy kid while being the star sports reporter for a paper in a country where an assignment will keep you separated for weeks at a time and in the middle of all this a child from a first marriage gets dumped on you at the worst possible time and you get the idea.

Dad has support from his well to do in-laws and an attractive good hearted teacher who happens to be single (never saw that coming), but have needs and issues of their own. So when called upon to help at a critical moment, it is not given.

Dad clearly has guilt over the situation he created with his first marriage and so finds himself constantly apologizing for other peoples miscreant behavior. He cannot apologize enough, even when his children and in-laws are crossing the line continually with recalcitrant actions and words.

The problem is, you don't ever really believe Dad is sorry for what he did to make this situation he finds himself in, and you don't get the sense he deserves what his coming to him, so the continual apologies not only ring hollow but are frustrating to listen to.

Adult male figures seem to make attractive targets for what ails society. Children are always victims, mothers in law are only out for the well being of children, female teachers are underappreciated and taken advantage of. Dad is good at apologizing and promising to never let that happen again.

There are other examples to make my point but I don't want to give away key elements of the movie.

There are several good and delightful scenes of interaction between Dad and son. Unfortunately these are lost against the larger back drop of male incompetence on display and cannot make up for the larger picture being presented here.

Apparently there are other fecally bad directors and producers that don't know any real actors. I just haven't seen them. Till now. At least Ed Wood Jr. got the great Bela Lugosi to work for him. The best Larry Buchanan could coax into this trash fest was household name John Agar. You really have to wonder who thought a distributor could look kindly enough on a movie this bad to finance it. But here it is. Several of the actors look like they're channeling Clutch Cargo - you know, stiff as a board and only their lips move? And those are the good ones. Anyway, the bat-thing hides out in a phony stalagmite stage set just waiting for humans to figure out how to kill him so that the voice over at the end can wax eloquent how the answers to life's conundrums are to be found within, not without. Just in case you wondered aloud why you allowed yourself to sit through this apoplectic producing poop party.