A very well-written, well-acted drama disguised as a thriller that will confuse and put off a few people who like their entertainment to be one- way thrill ride explosions. This is not that movie. I think a lot of people might have trouble with the fact that these characters are multi- faceted, don't necessarily act logically, and are simultaneously good and bad people. What we're watching are people with complex motivations, placed in situations that expose their worldview to the limit, revealing their true nature in the process.
This is an adventure story, about survival in an alien environment. As such, it's refreshingly honest and brutal that almost all of characters in the story make stupid mistakes on their way. also, there is no one that acts entirely evil for entirely evil intentions or entirely good for entirely good intentions. The bad guys do good things, the good guys do bad things. The females complain about their treatment because they're women, but then they make errors in judgment that lead us to believe that gender has nothing to do with their special treatment. Etc.
It's the layered character stories like this that makes this movie so interesting, but it's the actors that make the story compelling. The acting in this movie is outstanding all the way around. Wilde is great, Spacek is great, Mara is great. Kistofferson is his usually gruff self; Treat Williams makes for a good authority figure who may or may not be a misogynist; but Eric Bana is phenomenal. Bana gives a performance that is understated at the same time as it is magnetically entertaining.
There are some problems with the somewhat sanitized production that make this a less than real experience. I think this is why this movie is great but not awe-inducingly terrific. Even though a good part of it takes place in the frozen wasteland of rural Upper Michigan, we don't really feel that we're in a frozen rural wasteland the same way we do in, say, Fargo. Much of the production feels boxy and stagey, a little too slick in places, and a little too closed in, when it's supposed to represent the expansive nature of the setting. It might have been able to portray the movie's themes somewhat more effectively had there been more focus on viscerally visual authenticity rather than the attractive cast. But still, it's good viewing, and it's ultimately satisfying.
This is an adventure story, about survival in an alien environment. As such, it's refreshingly honest and brutal that almost all of characters in the story make stupid mistakes on their way. also, there is no one that acts entirely evil for entirely evil intentions or entirely good for entirely good intentions. The bad guys do good things, the good guys do bad things. The females complain about their treatment because they're women, but then they make errors in judgment that lead us to believe that gender has nothing to do with their special treatment. Etc.
It's the layered character stories like this that makes this movie so interesting, but it's the actors that make the story compelling. The acting in this movie is outstanding all the way around. Wilde is great, Spacek is great, Mara is great. Kistofferson is his usually gruff self; Treat Williams makes for a good authority figure who may or may not be a misogynist; but Eric Bana is phenomenal. Bana gives a performance that is understated at the same time as it is magnetically entertaining.
There are some problems with the somewhat sanitized production that make this a less than real experience. I think this is why this movie is great but not awe-inducingly terrific. Even though a good part of it takes place in the frozen wasteland of rural Upper Michigan, we don't really feel that we're in a frozen rural wasteland the same way we do in, say, Fargo. Much of the production feels boxy and stagey, a little too slick in places, and a little too closed in, when it's supposed to represent the expansive nature of the setting. It might have been able to portray the movie's themes somewhat more effectively had there been more focus on viscerally visual authenticity rather than the attractive cast. But still, it's good viewing, and it's ultimately satisfying.