Polar

**What a bloody mess.** I the middle of the film, I stopped serveral times and wondered how to salvage this trainwreck, if I was the writer. The Mikkelsen and Hudgens scenes are strong, emotional, well written and acted, and make sense. And Mikkelsen is excellent for this sort of action hero thing - for which there are good action scenes, iconic even. But all of that doesn't tie in with the violent clowns. That part has some clever moments, but really daft hours - like, most of the movie. I wonder how the script came to be - whether a good original story got script-doctored by the wrong people. Add some wanton violence, some sex scenes, some torture and more torture, daft villains - lot's of unnecessary stuff that's just ups the rating without giving anything of value. I kept wondering "why". There is a number of good bits, which seem familiar; there is a lot of crap that feels like a complete WOMBAT. Someone OK'd this, produced, made, left it in the cut - and I don't see why. This could've been an original, violent and interesting movie. But it was utterly messed up. Won't watch again, but managed to finish it.

r96sk

7/10

10/21/2023

This is something... I think I might've enjoyed it, marginally. I'm not entirely sure how, to be honest. For the most part I was pretty nonplussed by <em>'Polar'</em>, though by the conclusion it kinda grew on me if I'm to be truthful. I kinda seperate the film into two parts, the bits with Mads Mikkelsen & Vanessa Hudgens and the bits without Mads Mikkelsen & Vanessa Hudgens. It's like chalk and cheese, really. Mikkelsen and Hudgens are certainly pros and, by the end, an almost endearing duo. Any scene involving them fluctuates from decent to good, nothing more admittedly but positive stuff from those two still. Aside from them, I do like how the film commits to its gory kills and somewhat gratuitous sexual content. It works, just about. What doesn't work, however, is those other characters that appear onscreen. Matt Lucas is hit-and-miss but probably just about passable, though every member of the supposedly specialist hit squad just didn't work for me. Ruby O. Fee, Fei Ren and others try but as a group they just didn't give off any badass or fun to watch aura... almost cringe, in fact. It is far, far adrift of being a great film or even one I'd recommend with all my heart. However, it entertains... just. I'd be up for seeing Mads Mikkelsen and Vanessa Hudgens together again in this set-up, which is <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/cannes-2022-mads-mikkelsen-dark-kaiser-polar-jonas-akerlund-1235144766/" rel="nofollow">reportedly</a> something that'll happen soon as it seems they are remaking this 2019 flick already... with similar people behind it. How intriguing.