Tag: Survival

ARCTIC – Review

Mads Mikkelsen in ARCTIC. Photo courtesy of Bleecker Street.

The Arctic is among the most extreme environments found on earth, at the limits of where mankind can survive. The film ARCTIC focuses on one man marooned in that environment, spinning a deeply human tale of survival in the harshest of wildernesses. The drama/thriller is also a tour-de-force performance by Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen, in a nearly wordless minimalist adventure of endurance.

This is not entirely a “man alone in the wilderness” tale, although Mikkelsen’s character Overgard starts out alone. It is the appearance of another person, injured in a helicopter crash, that sends him on his journey.

With Mikkelsen’s remarkable performance, ARCTIC is about as good as it gets for man in the wilderness drama, at least of the frozen variety. The snowy landscape has an austere beauty but the sense of cold seeps into your bones watching his ordeal crossing the icy terrain. Only the human warmth of the character’s concern for this charge breaks the chill.

Shot on location in Iceland in a remote volcanic plateau, with an experienced Icelandic crew, the harsh conditions shown reflect the reality of the challenging locale. Director and co-writer Joe Penna, who wrote the script with Ryan Morris, thoroughly researched arctic survival, consulting with pilots, survivors and experts, to add a sense of gripping reality to the film. The story is fictional but also universally true as a picture of extreme survival.

Sweeping vistas of the snow-covered rocky landscape adds to the drama and gives the film a striking visual style, well used by the director and cinematographer Tomas Orn Tomasson. The screen is filled with white snow, gray rocks and blue sky, against which we see Overgard in his red coat as a small figure struggling.

When we first see Mads Mikkelsen’s character, he is engaged in some mysterious task, digging in the snow with improvised tools. Zooming out to a high, wide shot reveals he is working to maintain a large SOS he has scratched out in the snow. Stranded by a plane crash, Overgard seems to have been waiting for rescue for sometime. We do not see the crash, only the wreckage of the small plane, as we follow him through what looks like a well-practiced routine of daily life and survival as he awaits rescue. We learn nothing of who he is or why he was in this remote landscape. There is no voice-over, no flashback, just Mikkelsen’s actions and occasional words. Yet what is happening is crystal clear.

Mikkelsen’s Overgard has worked out a routine to survive, living on fish he catches with baited lines dropped in holes cut in the ice. His distress signaling device is positioned on a small hill near his wrecked plane and he climbs to the crest daily to hand crank a generator to send the signal. He appears to be the only living thing around, until a paw print and a smashed cooler reveal the presence of a polar bear.

When rescue finally seems to arrive in the form of a helicopter, it is plagued by bad luck in the form of bad weather. The helicopter that has responded at last to his distress signal is brought down by high winds in a storm. One of the two people in the helicopter is killed but the other survives, a young woman (Maria Thelma Smaradottir) who was injured in the crash. With practical discipline, Overgard scavenges what he can from the crashed helicopter and takes the injured woman back to his plane.

His joy at seeing another person is obvious. Although he speaks to her in English, her response indicates little grasp of the language and the markings on the helicopter suggest she may be Southeast Asian or maybe Korean. Still, it gives him hope that rescue for them both is on the way. But it becomes clear the woman is not doing well and Overgard is forced to act to try to save them both.

Overgard’s touching care for this stranger as well as his practical approach to the daunting task of survival are moving and gripping. At 98 minutes, the film is the right length for this tale of human endurance in a frozen wilderness. Mikkelsen gives an outstanding performance, both portraying Overgard’s resourcefulness and determination, and his touching human concern for this helpless stranger.

As good as Mikkelsen is in it, the film is limited by the man-versus-nature genre itself. The story is direct and minimalist, based on human courage in extreme conditions, and it is to the director’s credit that it keeps that simplicity. Given the kind of story it is, this is not a film for everyone, although it is as good as any of the type. Watching Overgard’s ordeal, and knowing what actor Mikkelsen had to endure to film in that harsh locale, is likely to make one grateful for central heating at the very least.

ARCTIC is a well-done, spare survival film graced with haunting Icelandic vistas and stunning location photography but mostly worth seeing for Mads Mikkelsen’s outstanding performance. ARCTIC opens Friday, February 22 at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinema.

RATING: 4 out of 5 stars

THE COLONY – The Review

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With the coming of a new ice age, mankind finds itself struggling to survive against mother nature. Humanity has grown to take modern medicine for granted, but now that society has been reduced to the most minimal remnants of what we once knew, the common cold and the flu has become our worst enemy, but what could be worse that microscopic killers?

In THE COLONY, writer and director Jeff Renfroe takes us into the weary lives of the few survivors living underground from the harsh icy wasteland that was once the surface of the Earth. Renfroe, who recently directed a stint of episodes for TV’s BEING HUMAN, seems to have an all access pass into the minds of characters forced to endure abnormally stressful circumstances of life.

The initial concept of THE COLONY is simple, to survive the cold without killing each other in the process. Not surprisingly, the film, as with life and human nature, nothing is ever that simple. The opening series of shots sums up the tone of the film quite well. We’re drawn in from high above in the sky, down towards Earth and into the darkness of an abandoned smoke stack to the sunless depths of the tunnels below. Nothing about this indicates a pleasant journey.

Kevin Zegers (GOSSIP GIRL) plays Sam, the young and still idealistic central character. Sam is one member of a relatively small band of survivors camped out in a make-shift “colony” housed within an old industrial facility, perhaps once a nuclear plant from the looks of the place at times. Laurence Fishburne (THE MATRIX) plays Briggs, the leader of this band of survivors. Briggs is a knowledgeable, logical man. Bill Paxton (BIG LOVE) plays Mason, a more rebellious, head strong member of the camp who feels impulsive and reckless, contrary to what Sam and Briggs represent.

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After receiving a video transmission promising new hope originating from another colony, Sam and Briggs head out into the cold, white hell in an effort to reach the other colony. Their journey is a perilous one, encountering dangers that include some staples of social horror, and oddly leads nowhere productive. At times, it can be difficult to watch THE COLONY and not sense the influence of films such as THE THING or even films such as THE HILLS HAVE EYES to some degree, but none of this detracts from the film having its own personality.

Renfroe employs a fair amount of digital effects technology to help create the setting of this bleak, barren planet that has undergone drastic climactic changes, perhaps due in part to man’s insatiable need to tinker with the laws of nature. The effects are used sparingly, but effectively in creating this cinematic atmosphere otherwise nearly impossible to achieve. THE COLONY is one part science-fiction, warning us of the possible outcome of our sometimes arrogant human ways, and one part thriller, a study of ourselves as individuals and as a social species.

THE COLONY shifts as Sam and Briggs are away. In their absence, Mason makes a power play and the integrity of their camp is tested. Unfortunately, this power struggle is extremely short-lived. The more intriguing path of possibility would have been to develop these characters further into their conflicts with each other. Instead, THE COLONY devolves somewhat into a simple chase and kill horror ride as the less civilized human survivors invade the camp and thus, chaos and bloodshed ensue.

The performances in THE COLONY are par for the course. Paxton and Fishburne are as you would typically expect, effective but fairly standard in their roles. The tension that builds in THE COLONY is ultimately what drives the story and allows for a compelled audience to stay committed to the plot. The primary flaw of THE COLONY is that it never truly develops any characters. We know who to pull for, who we want to succeed, because the line between good and bad is well drawn, especially when you have a third, more sinister element of evil lurking in the blinding white void outside.

THE COLONY begins as an interesting tease of becoming an intellectual story of science gone wrong and nature rebelling, leading to the last of humanity struggling amongst themselves and each other with the promise of some foreboding evil that could destroy what little hope they have. While the film is still entertaining on a popcorn-munching adrenaline level, THE COLONY is somewhat disappointing in that it never truly, fully breaks the mold and becomes those things I initially hoped it would be.

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

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THE GREY – The Blu Review

The Movie: From the very first moments of THE GREY, there is a stark realization that the stark bleakness of the film’s setting is directly complimentary to the story being told. The cold, harsh, brutal weather of the northernmost wilderness sets the stage for a tragic journey of survival. Co-written and directed by Joe Carnahan (SMOKIN’ ACES, THE A-TEAM) and written by Ian MacKenzie Jeffers, the film is adapted from Jeffers’ short story entitled “Ghost Walker.”

THE GREY, at it’s most primal, is a story of man versus nature, but more specifically man versus beast, as a handful of oil workers who survive a place crash must battle the bitter cold and a relentless and hungry pack of wolves for survival. Led by Ottway, the group of men must comes to terms with each other and their own demons as they witness their own numbers gradually decline by the fangs of their canine counterparts. On this level, THE GREY is a terrifyingly horrific tale of a scenario far too easy to imagine in real life. On the other hand, THE GREY is a curiously uplifting human saga that carries with it a certain amount of triumph and epiphanal

Liam Neeson (TAKEN, UNKNOWN) plays Ottway, a poacher with a guilty conscience working security for an oil company in the great white north, tasked with keeping the savage wild wolves from making the workers their lunch. Ottway is an intelligent, tough and resourceful man. He is a peaceful man by nature, but not a man you’d want to make angry. Neeson gives Ottway a quiet intensity that defines the role, creating a character that an audience admires and cares about, despite his gruff demeanor. Neeson is an actor that can say as much with his face as he can with words and this role is no exception.

The group of survivors led by Ottway includes Diaz (Frank Grillo), Hendrick (Dallas Roberts), Flannery (Joe Anderson), Burke (Nonso Anozie), Hernandez (Ben Bray), Lewenden (James Badge Dale), and Talget (Dermot Mulroney). This small group of hardened men, some weak and some strong, clash as often as they unite in their combines struggle. Each of them have something to lose, something they long to return to, except for Ottway who seems resigned to imminent death, willing to let that fate overcome him if not for his ingrained sense of duty to ensuring the survival of the other men.

THE GREY is an extremely well written, well directed and well acted film, but a great injustice would be done if I were not to apply due emphasis on the look and sound of this fantastic film. Cinematographer Masanobu Takayanagi (WARRIOR) captures the Alaskan wild with unflinching realism, setting aside the more serene, peacefully dangerous depiction of films like INTO THE WILD for a barren, unruly landscape brutalized by blistering winds and blinding horizontal snowfall. Much of the most brutal weather depicted in THE GREY was captured on locations without the assistance of fans or special effects, a frightening thought in and of itself. The landscape becomes a character, another antagonist through the lens of a master cinematographer. Composer Marc Steitenfeld, whose work will soon be featured in Ridley Scott’s upcoming PROMETHEUS, indulges the audience with a score so fittingly bleak while also subtly emotional that it’s presence is as equally easy to overlook as it is significant to the film’s success. However, Carnahan understands the appropriate use of this tool when he chose to leave the music out of the mix during what is perhaps the best scene in the entire film.

While there is plenty of wilderness action, suspense and beastly terror, THE GREY shines most vividly in it’s most human moments. One of these moments is during Ottway’s reflection on his relationship with his father and a simple but powerful poem his father wrote for him as a boy. This poem carries a great deal of weight throughout the film. The other is perhaps one of the best, most realistic and thoughtful depictions of death as it occurs I have seen in many years on film. This moment takes place shortly after the plane crash occurs and offers a fascinating insight into Ottway and his perspective on life. Overall, THE GREY is as touching as it is frightening, it is as much a sad film as it is a testament to hope and personal strength. It is a film about the human will.

The Extras: THE GREY blu-ray doesn’t have a ton of special features, but what it does have proves to be worth watching. Hey, it’s better than nothing, which is hos far too many films gets packaged to blu-ray in a rush to capture home viewing sales. Start out your blu-ray experience by watching the film (of course) unless you saw THE GREY in the theater. If so, jump directly to the deleted scenes — six in total — where you’ll get a healthy serving of scenes cut from the finished film. These deleted scenes do not come with an optional commentary, however some of these scenes are actually addressed in the feature-length audio commentary.

The feature-length audio commentary for THE GREY is a good time, recorded with co-writer/director Joe Carnahan and editors Roger Barton and Jason Hellmann. From the very beginning, it’s clear that you’ll have a good time listening to these laid back filmmakers. Joe Carnahan shakes his glass of ice, pointing out that they’re enjoying some Scotch while recording the commentary and what follows is a string of interesting, often humorous, anecdotes and off-the-cuff remarks about the filmmaking process and those involved.

>>>>>>> MINOR SPOILERS BELOW <<<<<<<

One of the most interesting things gleaned from the audio commentary comes from Joe Carnahan, when he explains how after seeing the film, his wife suggests that Ottway (Liam Neeson) is the only survivor of the plane crash and the other survivors are merely facets of his own mind, projections of different aspects of his personality, whereas as not only is Ottway in a struggle against nature — the cold/the wolves — but, that he is also in a struggle with himself. Carnahan goes on to explain how he had never thought of this prior to his wife pointing this out, but that it had a significant affect on how he viewed his own film afterward. I have to agree, as I watched the film again after enjoying the commentary. Viewing the film with this concept in mind changes the experience and gives the film a noticeably different appeal, less focused on the action and suspense and allows the viewer to delve deeper into the philosophical implications of the story.

Finally, THE GREY blu-ray also touts the following “bonus features” as described by Universal:

  • UltraViolet
  • Digital Copy
  • U-Control w/ Picture-in-Picture
  • pocket BLU App
  • BD-Live

THE GREY 2-Disc Blu-Ray/DVD Combo pack hits store shelves on Tuesday, May 15th, 2012.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Duncan Jones returns from ‘Moon’ and heads into ‘The Deep’

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Still the focus of some major buzz surrounding his science-fiction film ‘Moon’, director Duncan Jones has announced his second feature film directorial outing. Jones will helm the adaptation of the non-fiction book ‘Escape From the Deep’ for Brilliant Films. The book, written by Alex Kershaw, tells the amazing story of a legendary WWII submarine that sank as the result of a torpedo malfunction and the nine men who survived being stranded at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean by swimming back to the surface without suffering “the bends”. While this film appears to be quite different from ‘Moon’ on the surface, but there may be some similar underlying thematic elements at play here.

[source: Hollywood Reporter]