Arctic

Arctic is for a good part, a solo survival thriller centered around the character of Overgård who has been trying to make it out of the frozen Arctic after his plane crashed. This is one of those movies that focuses almost entirely on a single character with minimal dialogue. Much is conveyed through the body language and facial expressions of Overgård, played by the brilliant Mads Mikkelsen.

It's a grim but stunningly icy atmosphere that Joe Penna chooses to set his protagonist in, and we clearly know that it's not going to be easy to sit through. Overgård has been surviving on Arctic fish, trying his best to send out signals to any possible rescuers, and he doesn't know of an escape route (yet!). When supposed help does arrive, it only worsens the situation (watch the movie to know more!). Joe Penna wants us to witness the perseverance of his lead character by putting him through scenarios that get increasingly difficult each time. By doing so, he creates a spectacle that's minimalist but superbly effective.

Overgård's struggles make us want to forget our own for a good 90 minutes, and Mikkelsen, the fantastic performer that he is, ensures that his efforts remain worth the discussion later on. The dramatics are barely there; it all plays out so real that when Mikkelsen heaves 'essential baggage' up a snowy hill, we heave along with him. When he sheds a tear, we shed a tear along with him. And when an actor achieves this feat by getting to mouth barely any lines, that speaks volumes of his performance.

While watching 'Arctic', one cannot help but recall other popular survival drama/thrillers such as 'Cast Away', 'All Is Lost', and '127 Hours' and how each of these movies has had strong protagonists who we wanted to root for. Overgård can be added to this list without question. The cinematic hook here is how he decides not to let go of his humanity while making his way through the frosty surroundings. That said, the film does rely a little too much on the machismo of Mikkelsen and never rises above its basic, straightforward screenplay (there's no solid backstory attributed to Overgård and how he ended up there in the first place).

Nonetheless, Arctic is one of the better survival films that you'll have come across in recent memory. It'll make you want to stay off a diet that has fish in it; maybe even keep you away from air-conditioning for a little while. Arctic is, by all means, essential viewing!

This survival movie consisted of many many elements of other survival movies we've seen such as Cast Away and 127 hours but it felt new. I couldn't pin point why the movie didn't feel boring or overdone even though I'd seen some of the plot point before. It all lies in Mads Mikkleson's character. In every other movie we watch and cringe at the survivalist doing everything wrong but pushing on in spite of it. In Arctic, Mads does everything right. He clearly has survival training and is putting his knowledge to good use. He should be able to get help no problem, but despite all his efforts, it's the world that keeps tearing him down, not his ignorance as we see in so many other survival movies. We route for him and grieve when it doesn't go his way because we know he's doing absolutely everything by the book but it's just not going his way.

It's also incredible how Mads says the same few sentences over and over and it means something different every time he says it. There's so much emotion and meaning behind his few words.

This is one of those movies where afterwards you have to just sit and chill. It is very intense, in a real "slow burner" kind of way. For a movie with only about a coupe dozen spoken words, this is astonishingly well done.

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.

For a film with such a simple story and such little dialogue, 'Arctic' is successful at holding your attention throughout thanks to its compelling and well-told storyline. I initially thought this film was based on a true story - not sure why - but the fact I did probably shows how authentic and realistic 'Arctic' feels. It's a proper survival story without any Hollywood gloss.

The cinematography in 'Arctic' is excellent, capturing the stunning Arctic landscapes perfectly. It looks great and the bleak setting really adds to the mood of the film. Mads Mikkelsen is once again very impressive as the main (and for the most part only) character in the film.

'Arctic' is definitely worth watching - an all-round very good survival film that benefits from the simplicity of its plot. Well-made, well-acted and has no trouble in holding your attention from start to finish.