Arctic Void

My quick rating - 5,3/10. The scenery in this one was excellent. I have to assume filming in such a place has to be dirt cheap but the feeling of being in the middle of nowhere while watching this is like an additional character. The feel of this is very much like an episode of The Twilight Zone or Black Mirror. 3 guys shooting film for their travel show are on a ship to Svalbard, Norway when a mysterious power outage occurs and the rest of the people on board for the tour "vanish." This leaves the trio to try and figure out what has happened and venture off to the only town they can spot from the ship which also happens to be abandoned. The acting in this one is fairly bland since rarely do either of them actually attempt to show any emotions. It is hard to tell if it was just a lack of dialogue or just painting them out to basically be in shock. The bit players are given hardly any time to develop, which is a shame since Rune Temte as Jim, the tour head, was on the way to stealing the show here. This moved by rather briskly at 82 minutes and as I mentioned, could've been trimmed down a bit more if they were shooting for a TV show slot. It does lack any twist or surprise though which I was hoping for since my initial thought of what was going on happened to be correct. And I am not trying to say I was getting really creative with my guess either. #jackmeatsflix.

Three writers and not one could come up with an actual ending? What's worse, is that this film could've so easily been epic. It had excellent directing, amazing cinematography, beautiful landscapes and settings, spot on score, and the cast and performances were great. For a low budget indie film, this can school even some experienced filmmakers on how to create the perfect suspense and environment for its genre. Even the writing was great until about the final act. There were no plot holes or technical issues, then the ending just got sloppy and boring. Seeing the little special effects with the animals brings the tension and suspense level right up, and you know it's building up to something huge, and then, boom!, a total let down. Budget can't be the excuse, because imagination is free. It's seems more like the writers got bored and/or lazy. Such an easy fix and what a shame. Sadly, it's only a 7/10 from me, all going to the first three-quarters of what was almost a perfect film, and it could've easily been more, if there was a little more effort.

At the end of this movie it says This film was shot in 16 days by 16 people. That's pretty amazing considering it had an interesting plot, a very unique location for filming and the acting was just fine. The camera didn't bounce all over the place and the movie wasn't shot in the dark so you couldn't see what was going on. I enjoyed this movie quite a bit and cared about the characters. Then, the ending. Or lack thereof. I don't know who thought up the ridiculous ending, but someone, anyone should have laughed and said, "No, really. How are we ending this story?"

Excellent slow buildup, very believable. Second half all got a bit dull and the ending sadly didn't live up to the early promise of the film. Splendid scenery, but the CGI polar bear left a bit to be desired.

Huh??? What was that??? The reviews and ratings for this stinker are pretty accurate. Beautiful scenery and a promising start are totally wasted on the lack of any semblance of a plot and a nonsensical ending. By the end of the film you are watching the clock and counting down the seconds till it mercifully ends.

The actors are actually not at fault in my opinion. They seem to deliver as much as they reasonably can. The writing, or lack thereof, is the real culprit here. Indeed it seems like a waste to have traveled to such a remote place on Earth and have zero idea about the movie you're trying to make.

Skip this cinematic brain freeze.