Arctic review: Joe Penna delivers a solid, terrifyingly tense, edge-of-your-seat thriller in a striking, albeit slightly familiar debut.
Arctic review by Paul Heath.
Arctic review
If you’ve not heard of Joe Penna, don’t worry, you’re about to. He’s destined for big things. 2.7 million-plus users on YouTube know him, as that’s how many subscribers his channel has (along with tens of millions of views). He’s a short filmmaker who has used the platform to shake the film industry to get himself noticed, and noticed him they have as his debut feature Arctic arrives at the Cannes Film Festival in the midnight special screening section.
The film sees Mads Mikkelsen lead the cast as Overgård, a man who is stranded, yes you’ve guest it, right in the middle of the Arctic. He’s stranded with his crashed plane, nobody in sight for miles and miles. We don’t know how long he’s been here, but we know he’s in trouble as he’s already making S.O.S. signs out of the snow and fishing for food in the frozen lakes. A rescue effort is scuppered in the opening few minutes, all signs of help lost as a helicopter crashes in his immediate vicinity during an intense blizzard. The pilot, an unnamed young woman (Maria Thelma Smáradóttir), is unconscious and left in his care. Overgård must now decide whether to leave his safe camp, where additional people may now attempt a rescue mission once they realise the girl is missing, or trek across rough, demanding terrain to reach salvation.
Related: The Mountain Between Us [TIFF]
The narrative is one we’ve seen played out countless times before, most recently in the Idris Elba and Kate Winslet starrer The Mountain Between Us, which debuted at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival. This one has a much lower budget – we don’t see the initial plane crash, for example (but there are some impressive CGI sequences contained within) – but it is no-less expertly executed. In fact, Penna’s movie, from a screenplay he wrote with frequent collaborator Ryan Morrison, is perhaps more intense that most of the ‘stuck in the snow’ movies we’ve seen in recent times, though it does follow the same rules for this kind of genre piece.
You know the drill, man in peril; comes across a problem, overcomes it before encountering another one. You wonder if they will get out alive, and all the way through will them to absolutely do so. It’s one of those films that you’ll never cease to enjoy and be put on the edge of your seat whilst watching it, but once those credits come you’ll vacate your seat, exit the auditorium and forget about it altogether.
That said, this the perfect vehicle for someone like Penna to flex his muscles. I’d like to say that this would have had more money involved than with anything the filmmaker’s previously done, while also giving him the chance to work with a skilled professional like Mikkelsen, who absolutely excels in a demanding role, one where he hardly utters a word.
This is perfect fodder for the likes of Netflix, a taught, edge-of-your-seat thriller that definitely pushes all of the right buttons. It’s also another great calling card for a director with a glittering Hollywood career ahead of him. Should he want it, of course.
Arctic review by Paul Heath, May 2018.
Arctic was reviewed at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.
