Pioneer

'Pioneer' should by rights be an interesting film, inspired by true stories of commercial and governmental espionage, scientific advance, and personal bravery, as the Norwegian government was attempting to build (in the 1970s) its first pipeline to take North Sea oil ashore. But in fact, it's rather disappointing. Firstly, there's not much dramatic tension, in spite of a ostensibly vigorous plot. And secondly, that plot itself seems unlikely: large multinational companies are certainly guilty of many evils, but I find it relatively incredible to imagine they would murder Norweigian citizens to cover up ethics breaches - more normal behaviour would be to pay the fine and carry on as before. Perhaps it's because the motivation seems so preposterous that the story fails to ignite. The unvarnished truth (which we are told led to a lawsuit by disgruntled divers) would have been more interesting.

Writer/director Erik Skjoldbjærg (Insomnia, Nokas) was evidently inspired by the 1970s political paranoia thrillers (such as The Conversation, All the President's Men or Three Days of the Condor) when making this film. And why not stylize your film after that beautifully grey, brown and gritty decade when making arguably the most archetypically 1970-ish film in a while, portraying the Norwegian oil discovery and subsequent boom.

Dependable box office star Aksel Hennie takes on the role as Petter, a working-class deep-diver selected to be in a group of pioneers who are to lay a new petroleum pipe at world-record depths from the oil fields off the Norwegian coast and back to the mainland. They are assisted by an American diving company specializing in deep-sea diving, but when the first test dive ends in catastrophe thanks to a freak accident, Petter starts suspecting that things aren't quite as they appear to be, and that someone knows more about the hazards than they are willing to divulge.

This fine premise remains both interesting and valid throughout these 106 minutes, and the film looks good soaked in its 1970s homage. Still, Skjoldbjærg's approach does give Pionér somewhat of an identity crisis. We're never quite sure if the film wants to be a truthful and informative document of these pioneering deep-divers and their role during early days of the Norwegian oil adventure, or if it simply wants to be a mystery thriller at the sacrifice of realism. It seemingly starts off as the former, grows into the latter, and then tries to steer its way back to the former again towards the end. It only succeeds partially at this. There are too many characters and situations that are made ominous just for the sake of it (the Wes Bentley character standing out as the best example), and the film thus seems a bit overplotted at times. And there are a few too many situations with looming shadows and limping sidekicks for it all to resemble a modern, real-life power struggle. I'd rather have some of these replaced with a little more footage of how these divers went about their job, something that would have given the pivotal scene more weight as well. That being said though, Pionér is a fine piece of filmmaking with plenty of cinematic merit, and the busy Aksel Hennie does a fine job in propelling the film forward.

Saw this advertised on Sky Movies. The movie poster had an Abyss feel to it, which I guess did the job of getting my interest.

The info then described this as a gripping 80's thriller. Believe me, unless your idea of gripping is people sitting around in decompression chambers, jittery flashbacks announced with annoying sound effects and far too much coverage given to the lead guy's fur lined jacket, this couldn't be further from the truth.

I watched this for about 50 minutes before the boredom became more crushing than the pressure at the bottom of the Marianas trench.

The Wave wasn't bad but after this and the appalling The Last King, I think I'm gonna have to give these Norwegians films a bit of a miss.

Saw this recently on a DVD. Been on my radar for a long time. Knowin that its from the director of the original Insomnia n the actor from Headhunters, it aroused my curiosity. The film is about Norwegians and Americans cooperating in diving deeper than anyone previously has done to prepare for the installation of a gas pipeline. I found the movie very informative, providing knowledge about decompression sickness. Professional divers r used as guinea pigs while scientists secretly tested gas mixtures thought to counteract harmful deep sea pressures without the participant's knowledge. The film features breathless n claustrophobic underwater sequences. The bottom of the ocean as the dark side of the moon with the Norwegian flag. The scenes where the divers r going through rigorous training to prepare themselves are very tense. The claustrophobic environment of the pressure chamber n the divers' hallucinations created a sense of dread. The cinematography is gorgeous with clean blues, greens, and amber colors. The pacing was a bit letdown. Once the movie is away from the sea, it becomes a bit slow. The other issue was that the American characters, (Lang n Bentley) weren't given more footage n dialogues. The relationship between the lead character n his brother's family were a bit melodramatic at times. The angle of the greedy corporations n politics were full of clichés.

Pioneer is a thriller inspired by true events in the 70'ies, when Norwegians and Americans was experimenting with deep sea diving, so that oil could go directly in pipelines from the deep sea oil wells on to land. This was landmark and record breaking work, and there was some tension between the Norwegians and the Americans back then. Humans were guinea pigs, in the sense that this was never done before. You could call it a moon landing at deep sea.

This thriller has a very different style from what you might usually think a thriller should have. It bears resemblances with sci-fi films when landing on the moon. The feeling of the film is also close to films paranoia films like "The conversation" (of which thus doesn't even come close) or more known submarine films. Claustrophibic from time to time. The finishing scene is pure film art, but still maybe too obvious symbolic.

I found the film exciting, and I liked especially the way the underwater situations were told. We were taken in on the blurry life of deep sea divers, either they were looking through water, murky waters or glass, and drug effects making distortion on sight. I also liked the setting. Very bleak seventies, down to every little details as to colors like we see them on photos today, and to authentic looking milk cartons. This is very qualified film making in many ways.

However, there's some problems. The sound is a bad flashback from the seventies as well, and some of the ideas are not too well thought through. The limping (no more needed to be said) is ridiculous, and far off when it comes to the script. What the Hell happened here!?!

Once again I think Aksel Hennie is electric in his role, as were the others. Very good instruction, and quality actors all the way through. It was like looking on a seventies spy thriller. A very international crew, with Wes Bentley, Stephen Land, Jonathan LaPaglia, Stephanie Sigman, Ane Dahl Torp, all making us remember the seventies with both heart and shrugs.

Again screenwriter Nicolaj Frobenius proves his worth, as of course do director Erik Skjoldbjærg, which also has done great work with the films "Insomnia" (later remade by Christopher Nolan), "Prozac Nation", "An Enemy of the People" and the bank heist thriller "Nokas". But here there's some problems, and there are plot holes and easy solutions which irritates, especially on second watch. This tells that the film is more entertainment than really great filmmaking for film buffs.

What a director! So different films, and such great feels to every single one! Still this falls through compared With Insomnia and Nokas with much easier solutions, and a more shallow film making than we're used to by Skjoldbjærg.