Right star cast as worn survivor
Arctic
(out of 4) Starring Mads Mikkelsen and Maria Thelma Smaradottir. Written by Joe Penna and Ryan Morrison. Directed by Joe Penna. Opens Friday at the Varsity. 98 minutes. PG It would be easier to count the words spoken in Joe Penna’s survival thriller Arctic than the number of beats your heart skips while watching it.
Few of the former, many of the latter. But it’s not all jump scares in this smartly executed genre movie, which stars Mads Mikkelsen as a stranded northern pilot battling icy desolation and other natural threats.
Much more is inferred than spoken, with Brazilian director/co-writer Penna allowing the fierce landscape and Mikkelsen’s expressive facial reactions to carry the lean but eventful narrative.
We don’t know the pilot’s name nor where exactly he’s been stranded, apart from the title locale. At first it seems his plight is serious but not desperate.
The pilot’s airplane is damaged but not destroyed; he’s using it for shelter. He’s a resourceful guy — obviously no stranger to rugged work or harsh environments.
He has fashioned a giant “SOS” in the snow and he’s us- ing ice-fishing techniques to catch enough food for his needs. He also has medical and mapreading skills.
“It’s OK,” he keeps telling himself. Help is surely on the way.
The pilot also has a supply of emergency equipment, including a hand-cranked signalling device for summoning assistance.
Which, sure enough, arrives like the cavalry in an old western, as a helicopters hoves into view. But then a tragic turn of events, involving another crash survivor, played by Maria Thelma Smaradottir, forces the pilot to make a perilous choice.
Should he risk a dangerous trek across mountainous terrain for potential salvation, or remain where he is for an equally unsure outcome?
That’s all the setup you need for this highly involving saga. It gives Danish star Mikkelsen, who has often been the bad guy in a career that includes Casino Royale, Doctor Strange and TV’s Hannibal, a chance to play a virtuous and resolute character.
He approaches action-hero status in the taciturn role of the pilot, whose grit in increasingly dire circumstances is something to behold. Mikkelsen’s performance summons comparisons to Robert Redford’s tough sailor character in All Is Lost, an ocean survival film that premiered at Cannes five years ago.