Arctic

A conventional slow survival story where Mads Mikkelsen finds himself alive past the Arctic Circle after a plane crash and does all he can to come back to civilisation. It’s almost dialogue-free and everything relies on Mikkelsen’s acting and facial expressions – which is quite impressive. As for the plot, it doesn’t innovate much compared to other films of that kind. With time, I can therefore imagine how Arctic will be remembered as the one where Mads is dragging a sleigh. After the screening, I felt as exhausted as the main hero. [Sitges 2018] (10/07/2018)

Europe's best actor Mads Mikkelsen fights for his life in the cold Antarctic in this new adventure survival drama. Fans of survival dramas will surely enjoy this one, but the film is too minimalistic for my taste, and there are no surprises or interesting scenes. Mads barely speaks, so the only thing to praise is his skill and creativity to survive. It's believably shot and everything makes sense, but the film lacks drive and tension, unfortunately. There is indeed a polar bear, but compared to The Revenant, it's not even worth mentioning. For fans of Mads, nature and survival films a must see, the rest can ignore it as they won't miss much. 60% (04/16/2019)

I didn't realize what I was getting myself into until the moment that endless white landscape spread out before me. This couldn't be more monotonous, I thought. But after a few minutes, when I was wondering whether this role of his was outright stupidity, Mads decided not to leave it at that and started fighting with the snow. And suddenly I forgot that there's nothing around, suddenly I was rooting for him and living through every move he made. I wouldn't take that on with an average actor. I'd do it again with Mads. A strong 3 stars. (10/23/2021)

One hundred percent immersive spectacle. I believed everything Mads Mikkelsen did, and that was the basis of its success. I liked that we don't know anything more about his character than that he's a smart guy, we're thrown into the plot at the beginning and gradually get to know what the creators want us to know. For example, that a man can remain a man even in the worst conditions. Or should. (09/15/2019)

Or when the label "minimalist, non-literal, cold, detached procedural" for a survival genre film is taken literally. Like really literally. And that’s a good thing. Speechless, blinkered, detached, pragmatic and bereft of hope and the will to live, Mikkelsen pulls it off reliably together with the impressively chilling atmosphere of endless snowdrifts, despite the somewhat stilted pacing and setbacks during all that tedious step-breathe-step trudging. (05/16/2021)