Against the Ice movie review

MOVIE TITLE: Against the Ice

This dramatic true story is now available on Netflix.

RATING: TV-MA (R)

LENGTH: 1 hour 42 minutes

IN A NUTSHELL:

The movie is based on the true story of Demark’s 1909 polar expedition when two men must fight the dangerous landscape and weather of Greenland to find information about a lost map. The film is based on the book “Two Against The Ice” by Ejnar Mikkelsen.

THINGS I LIKED:

Game of Thrones fans will love seeing the famous father/son team from that series with Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Charles Dance together. Nikolaj co-wrote the film as part of a passion project. Fun fact: his wife is from Greenland!
Joe Cole was excellent too. I love how we slowly get to watch his character reveal traits of loyal follower to hopeful leader.
I gasped quite a few times because I was so worried about the men and their dogs.
Great makeup team! The two main actors looked frozen during most of the film and genuinely beaten up by their ongoing journey and battle against the elements.
Gorgeous cinematography. It couldn’t have been easy to film the scenes in such harsh, dangerous conditions. Greenland could definitely be called one of the characters of the movie.
Part of the movie was also filmed in Iceland. I had the great pleasure of going to Iceland for the first time just a few months ago. It really is an incredible country and I finally got to see the famous Aurora Borealis, something that had been on my Bucket List for a long time! I also got to go snowmobiling on a glacier! This is the first Netflix film from Iceland.
You’ll feel cold, horrified, and hopeless while being immersed among the vastness of ice and rock.
The expressions on the sled dogs’ faces are impressively revealing and endearing.
The conversations during their time in the hut were interesting, entertaining, and heartbreaking. No spoilers!
I don’t want to give any spoilers, but there’s a polar bear scene that is crazy good. What a sequence!
There are title cards that give you time stamps so you understand how much time has passed and you appreciate the dire situations.
There is some interesting political commentary about the United States and Denmark in terms of conquering attitudes at the time.
Keep watching during the rolling credits to see photos of the real people this movie was based on. When you see the pictures, you’ll be even more impressed with how well the film portrayed true events.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

Dog lovers will be very sad.
It would have been nice to see a few more bonding moments between the two main characters as their relationship evolved over three years.
It’s a bit slow-moving. When I thought it was almost over, I looked to see that I had only watched the first hour.
Some viewers might complain that the Danish men should have spoken in their native tongue, rather than in English with a British accent.
I’ve heard people complain that some of the decisions made were entirely stupid. It’s not bad scriptwriting but a powerful illustration of the dive into insanity due to overwhelming hunger and despair.