Arctic Void

I don't get all the hate for this, somebody doesn't like somebody personally or professionally and I couldn't care less about their feelings.

I would not bother to review a film like this ordinarily because it was neither great or horrible, just a movie that kept me interested enough to watch to the end, but due to all the hate I just felt I needed to add a more positive review.

There are a couple decent actors here, the scenery is spectacular, and the concept has real potential. Unfortunately, the direction is film student amateur, one of the lead actors has a non-existent range of emotion, and the writer lost the plot after setting it up. The net result is a dry slog through an abandoned mining town while no one, either on screen or audience, knows or cares what is going on.

Three stars for the acting of two of the three survivors, for the plot setup, and for the engaging setting. No stars for what happens after the 'mystery' is introduced. You can turn the movie off at any point once they reach the island and you won't miss a thing.

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.

Two men who produce a nature TV series hire a cameraman and head to a remote Norwegian village to shoot an episode. While on a passenger vessel with a colorful cast of bystanders and crew, an unknown event causes all but the 2 friends and their cameraman to go missing without a trace. What happened and what will happen to our protagonists?

The premise of the movie is quite good, however the script is lacking in plot movement and development. The dialogue is also quite bad. The most disappointing thing was the low effort put towards writing good reasons for plot points to occur. This kind of movie also really shows how difficult it must be to write believable and natural-sounding dialogue, because these people do not speak to each other like normal humans would speak to each other. Events happen because they have to happen, not because any character has a realistic reason to make something happen. The amount of time spent "walking around looking befuddlingly puzzled" is WAY too long. They truly did not have to spend so much movie time watching each of the 3 characters walk around not knowing what is going on.

Having said that, none of the shortcomings take this movie down to a 1 or 2 star level. It looks absolutely gorgeous, and every shot adds to the general atmosphere of the serene setting. The basic idea is also pretty good. Without spoiling anything about the ending, it's not quite fair to say that "nothing happens" or that the ending is a non-ending. I would have preferred if less time was spent during the "we don't know what's going on" phase of the story, and the movie spent maybe 20 minutes at the end exploring what they are introducing as the explanation for the event. Again, no spoilers, but while I think they were going for a purposeful cliffhanger ending, I think it comes across more like a "lazy, no time to write plausible, real answers" type of ending.

I won't watch it again because it was too boring throughout without enough of a satisfying ending for the viewer. However, I wouldn't stop a friend from watching it if it came on TV.

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.