Arctic (2018)
Genre: Drama / Adventure
Duration: 97 minuten
Country:
Iceland
Directed by: Joe Penna
Stars: Mads Mikkelsen and Maria Thelma Smáradóttir
IMDb score:
6,8 (63.537)
Releasedate: 21 November 2018
Arctic plot
"Survival is the only option"
A man is stranded at the North Pole, waiting to be rescued at last. When it looks like help is on the way, a serious accident happens and his chance of rescue is lost. Now he must make an important decision: stay in the camp where it is relatively safe, or go out and into the unknown, hoping to find rescue.
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Reviews & comments
Fisico
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- 10039 messages
- 5398 votes
I do like gray survival films where people have to compete against the unrelenting nature (elements). Arctic is not a movie of the action or the many plot twists. Not much happens either. Penna clearly applies the "less is more principle" whereby the stranded man must know how to survive at the North Pole. There is no information known as to who he is and what he is doing there. The film focuses on everyday life and the strong will to survive. For some, the film will be boring, but you don't have to run into illegal whalers or something like that all the time, do you?
For example, it was strong how focused he was on how he ate raw fish, how banal it is to be able to warm your hands. And later he was king when he ate hard uncooked noodles. Great confrontational. At the polar bear I expected some action, but here too it was less is more. Not a superhero who split the polar bear's head with his pickaxe.
Mikkelsen did a great job. Top actor! Not many words are needed to show what is meant. Hope and despair are closely related. Sorry too. The film gives an intense look at the deepest emotions of man. Cold, but above all the loneliness and the web of hope are the greatest enemy in such a desolate place. Not as strong as Cast away, for example, but a big 4.0*!
Translated from Dutch · View original
Vidi well
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- 553 messages
- 722 votes
Still a lot of negative reviews. I do not understand that. Although the story is admittedly not original, I thought it was a very successful implementation of a survival story. No superfluous sidelines, or far-fetched psychology: the story is just as empty as the landscape where our main character has to find his way. All the more room there is for empathizing with the dire circumstances he has to deal with.
The film sometimes seems more like a documentary than a feature film, the actions we see are so repetitive. In any case, as a viewer I got very cold from this film, and the pleasure he finds with a gas burner or with a hot meal you feel throughout your body. Nicely done, this atmosphere.
The downside was the music that had to enhance the atmosphere every now and then. In my opinion, this detracted from the experience more than it contributed. This movie would be better off without music in my humble opinion. That would have strengthened the barren, desolate even more.
And the ending... my girlfriend and I were talking about it this morning. She regretted that both characters kept their eyes closed while the helicopter landed, any sign of life would have made the happy ending clearer. I myself saw it differently: I think that both characters have died, and that the helicopter is a death vision.
Very beautiful and compelling film, which in any case made me appreciate my warm bed extra last night.
3.5*
Translated from Dutch · View original
john mcclane 2
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- 3495 messages
- 6579 votes
The film is entirely supported by Mads Mikkelsen.
And that is quite an achievement in itself .
The ending was beautiful . My girlfriend wanted more , but I liked this sparkle .
Sometimes survival dramas can be so beautiful , usually they are .
But this also seemed very realistic , maybe a bit boring here and there , but isn't that what realism is ?
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