Arctic review: Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen battles the elements, bears and hunger, as he tries to rescue a young woman, and himself, from certain death in Joe Penna’s feature debut.
Signature Entertainment
Filmed on location in Iceland, Arctic explores the human will to survive against any odds. Starring Hannibal‘s Mads Mikkelsen as a man stranded after crashing his plane, the film follows his survival story. Initially his plan is the sound, stay put and await rescue approach. This has him spending his days following a strict routine regimented by his watch. His daily routine has him ice-fishing, creating an SOS sign, eating, and trying to tune his radio to pick up a signal. This simple existence changes after he chances upon another crash victim, a young woman, seriously injured and with her life hanging in the balance. Our hero makes a drastic decision, to leave his relatively safe sanctuary behind and attempt to walk them both back to civilisation, against some impossible odds.
Related: Arctic trailer – Mads Mikkelsen leads the cast
A first-time feature from director Joe Penna, Arctic shows a lot of promise. The story is sparse, Penna more concerned with focusing in on the task at hand. He doesn’t give the audience much information about either character, yet we still care about their plight. The universal theme of survival and the ease at which people could imagine themselves in either set of shoes obviously helps this along. Penna also demonstrates an eye for beauty, the cinematography capturing the wonder and danger of the bleak landscape perfectly.
It’s a lot to ask of a modern audience to watch essentially just one man on-screen for ninety minutes, with little dialogue, but if any actor can handle the job, it’s Mads Mikkelsen. Mikkelsen is a film star with great presence and it’s that magnetism that keeps the viewer hooked. With so little dialogue and human interaction, Mikkelsen has to rely on his face and actions to convey emotions. Luckily he has a very expressive range of facial expressions and he can convey so much with just a couple of looks. Arctic does drag in places however, mainly down to the lack of narrative, but the conclusion still packs a mighty emotional punch that will leave you fighting tears.
Arctic review by Kat Hughes, May 2019.
Arctic is out in select cinemas on Friday 10th May. It arrives on Digital HD on 24th June and is available for pre-order now.
