In the Arctic no one will hear you freeze
Back in the earlier days of
The set up and story are quite simple yet very effective because of the environment it is set in. Rarely do you get a film that makes you have a great sense of the character’s surroundings. Too commonly in modern cinema can you tell that the characters are in a location that doesn’t really exist. Arctic was filmed in 12 days in the cold in Iceland and you can see why that’s such an important decision that they made with the production.
Every shot does a fantastic job of showing Overgård’s isolation as he stands out amongst all the white snow. Long shots of Overgård walking in the snow to get to his next location make you think both “Wow!” and “Screw that!”. Arctic does a great job at showing how tough it is for man to survive in the weather conditions the Arctic has.
The story is quite simple and doesn’t really add too much too the film as you feel stuck in the same situation over and over again. The only question you really get is if Overgård and the injured woman will survive in the end or not. There is the threat of Polar Bears as well which adds a great additional threat/caution element to the film but the trailer does spoil that moment a little.
Easily the best part of the film is the excellent music which sweeps across the Arctic landscape. Joe Penna has always been good with music, as stated with his YouTube name Mystery Guitar Man, and the use of Joseph Trapanese score should be praised. The film could’ve been quite boring if the score wasn’t constantly pushing the film along and making those huge shots of the Arctic (Iceland) look even bigger and bolder than they really are.
I do wish the film had a bit more to say, a bit more of an added element to the story. It is a great isolation film and there isn’t really much more you could do I guess. Joe Penna does a great job directing and Mads Mikkelsen is great as usual. If you love isolation/survival films than this is the film for you. Just definitely go and see it in at the cinema for the beautiful cinematography.