“You never know who your friends are until the ice breaks”
Apparently that’s an indigenous peoples’ proverb. I wonder if it applies to Siberian huskies? Mine is here in Florida where there is no ice or snow to be found, so I will not have the occasion to test the theory. The closest she gets to snow is the crushed ice setting on my freezer door. Of course she does belong to a snow dogs sled pulling club with other huskies, but they cheat and have wheels on the sled. So sitting here in sunny Tampa, Florida, we’re about to have the longest stretch of 30 degree nights than I’ve encountered in a long time. So I thought this was the perfect time to invite Aurora (the husky) into my theater and settle down to watch Icefall, a film directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky and out on Blu-ray by Decal Releasing. I had to bribe Aurora with a premium treat, and she slept through many of the best parts of the film. I remained awake and alert throughout, with the pretty much perfect 96 minute running time. So now I’m in a position to give you guys some idea of what you might be in for, and if you should bother being in for it at all. So let’s get going, shall we? Hike!
The film opens with a pretty brutal heist where a lot of people get killed and a few people walk away with several million in pocket change. Poetic justice comes almost immediately as the plane goes down in some northern frozen wilderness where it rests for five months before our story picks up.
“My grandparents asked me one time: how many generations does it take to lose your connection to the land? And after looking at you, I know my answer. You sold out.”
Enter Harlen (Kinnaman). He’s been living alone out in this snow-covered wilderness. He’s mourning the death of his wife and believes that by remaining out here he remains close to her spirit. During one of his walkabouts he finds a suitcase full of money. He also discovers that under a nearby frozen lake there is a plane where more of this money is likely to be found. He’s planning to give the money he found to the local American Indian tribe that his wife was a part of. But he gets busted by Warden Ani (Myers). She’s busting him for poaching, which here is really just fishing without a license. When she discovers the case full of money, she goes on red alert, which is a good thing because there’s another car filled with some of those heist bad guys, and they want their money back. Cue the gunfight and the parties all running to their neutral corners. Ani and Harlen form an unlikely alliance as they’re trying to keep the bad guys from finding them. The alliance gets even more unlikely when the run into his father-in-law Oz, who blames Harlen for his daughter’s death. Oz is played by an extraordinary American Indian actor, Graham Greene. You know Greene. He’s been in tons of stuff from Dances With Wolves to Taylor Sheridan masterpieces like 1883 and Tulsa King. Sadly we will no longer have the honor of seeing him again, as he passed and this was his last film. He was only 73, but he leaves behind an impressive resume of roles. I will particularly miss seeing him in the future.
On the other side the bad guys keep falling behind, and it doesn’t make their boss very happy. Drake (Nixon) is kind of the field quarterback, and he just really likes killing people, sometimes to the disadvantage of his crew. Sirena (Gustavsson) and Dax (Trevena) are a couple. Pen (Sensmeier) has found God, and he really just wants to leave it all behind. Ellis (Fletcher) is the guy they can’t really depend on, and the brains of the outfit is Danny Huston’s Mr. Rhodes, and he is not at all happy to have to come out into these elements to clean up the team’s mess. The last time I saw Danny Huston in this kind of an environment he was a brutally bloody vampire running a nest that takes advantage of the long night in the extreme north. That was 30 Days Of Night, and it’s quite a good vampire film. Here it’s great watching Rhodes deliver a speech about family and loyalty. It reminds me of Robert DiNiro’s baseball speech in The Untouchables, and it ends with pretty much the same bloody lesson sans baseball bat. It’s one of the best moments in the film, also offering a break from the snowy winter wonderland.
“The climate has always been changing. It’s called weather.”
The film takes advantage of the natural environments. Fake snow has never been a good look, and CGI hasn’t really improved on the model. It’s why James Gunn took Superman into the actual Arctic and why it was a great idea to film this out in the cold world depicted in the movie. There are some beautiful landscapes, and I bought that cold so much I had to make myself a nice hot cup of tea. I even took out my Creature From The Black Lagoon hoodie that I overpaid for at Universal Studios on a particularly chilly night at their annual Horror Nights event. And as I mentioned in the beginning, the running time and pacing works out perfectly. The film is always moving, and the few quiet moments of reflection are there to either take in the natural environments or to add a few emotional beats that add some depth to the characters. The acting is pretty solid, and we do get to care for the characters running from the bad guys.
There are no bonus features here. This is one you might want to bundle up for. Pick up the Blu-ray and invite a date … and a husky if you have one. Mine is available for rental. Treats are extra. Snuggle up to keep warm and give the film a chance. “That’s my opinion.”
