Arctic Blue

There are so many holes and incongruities in this movie, I was considering hiring a private investigator to find the plot. One minute the hero and his prisoner (Rutger Hauer) are snowed in with wolves baying, the next minute they are basking in sunshine near a clear, crystal stream. Combine this with bodies being inexplicably hung in trees, shot bad guys suddenly recovering to their joke cracking best, Rutger athletically striding through the snow 5 minutes after being savagely stabbed in the leg and the apparent disinterest of the police in a trail of corpses littering the Arctic landscape and you have the most poorly directed, written and acted pieces of cinematic effluent ever to have polluted my TV set. I know what Elvis would have done to his TV set if he had ever watched this.

This isn't the movie, I'd thought it be, plot wise, but nevertheless, I found it refreshingly different. You know any movie with Rutger, he will deliver on his fine actng stakes, chops. Like C Thomas Howell, after The Hitcher, these 2 were basically pigeon holed in B grade straight to video movies after a few more cinematic releases. A combination of The Edge, Deadly Pursuit and a little Surviving The Game, The Grey, Arctic Blue walks it's own different path, as quite an interesting action pic movie. The lesser detail of plot works better for it, in fact. In self defence, Rutger, one of a trio of trappers, shoots a rival trapper, another one out of three. The other two are left freezing to death. After a relaxing, wash down in a hot spring by a gorgeous Asian lass-a whore who practically has her legs wrapped around rough bearded Hauer's throat, he's picked up and charged with murder, where from here, we have a sort Deadly Pursuit, Berenger and Poitier thing going on, instead of more intensifying plot development, where a friendship grows between cop and bad/good guy, and an inspiring, admiring Point Break ending. A well acted action pic, and the beautiful whore is visually memorable and luring. Above average, run of the mill actioner/drama, that warrants a recommended view, and Hauer turning in another fine and cheeky performance, come summer, rain, spring or fall.

Anything with Rutger Hauer is better than average thanks to his presence, and no exception here. In this one he's the bad guy, but good guy, character, meaning the misunderstood individualist. However, this aspect of the story is left unexplored. Hauer's a trapper in Alaska with a gang of moronic sidekicks who stumble upon a group of hunters and threaten to take some of their pelts. Hauer kills, with a thrown knife, one of the hunters who draws a gun, then his gang leave the others in the wild after destroying their truck motor, and of course the hunters die from exposure. So the local lawman is determined to get Hauer. In a situation where self defense could have been shown, the trappers let matters get way out of hand, then are determined to free Hauer from the grips of the law. During the escapades of getting Hauer to jail in Fairbanks, Hauer protests that he is only a misunderstood individual who's one with the wilderness. And the young man who takes the duty to deliver Hauer is conflicted about doing this. It seems that there were plot elements cut out because it would have been much more believable if Hauer had told his side of the killing to the lawman, which he never did. No explanation and no remorse just make him a bad character and it's tough to see why the lawman feels sympathy towards him. There's a whole subplot about evil oil company dealings that is unexplored and tough to figure out, and that's more of what was probably cut out, and somehow Hauer is involved against the oil company but that's also a missing plot piece. The producers needed to have had somebody with fresh eyes look at the film before they cut out certain plot developments that left the story less coherent than it should have been. Still it's above average and if you can fill in the holes yourself as I did, it will be a fine evening of viewing, and there's some really beautiful scenery.

This movie works on some levels, just not very many. It's a decent muck-about-in-the-snow actioner. But the plot and character developments are about as sensical as an average episode of Walker: Texas Ranger. Come to think of it, those beards everyone is sporting in Arctic Blue look rather familiar. But moving on.

Hauer still manages to be compelling in a role that keeps you wondering if the guy is evil or just plain crazy. Everyone else is on par with a TV movie-of-the-week. Not terrible, just not terribly good, either. They're all hampered by a weak script with holes you could drop a snow avalanche through. Northern Exposure it ain't. There are worse movies you could while away 95 minutes with, but there are better options, too.

Cinematography of the Alaska wilderness is a real plus, and a couple scenes standout, but for the most part "Arctic Blue" is a mess. Rutger Hauer is never going to advance his "B" movie career with these types of roles. Here he is nothing but a cardboard character, almost blending into the snowy landscape. The script is never believable, and there appear to be parts cut out that would have helped connect the dots. The ending seems to be sending some type of ecological message, but it is meaningless with the nonsense that precedes it. The two things that I will remember about "Arctic Blue" are the above summary "grapefruit" quote, and a flying pickax. Other than that the film is very forgettable. - MERK