MOVIE REVIEW: FROZEN

FROZEN (English/PG13)

Genre: Thriller

Release Date: 24 June 2010

Distributor: Anchor Bay Entertainment

Running Time: 94 minutes

Director: Adam Green

Producers: Peter Block, Cory Neal

Writers: Adam Green

Casts: Emma Bell, Kevin Zegers, Kane Hodder, Shawn Ashmore

Plot: A typical day on the slopes turns into a chilling nightmare for two snowboarders and a skier (Emma Bell, Kevin Zegers & Shawn Ashmore) when they get stranded on the chairlift before their last run. As the ski patrol switches off the night lights, they realise with growing panic that they have been left behind dangling high off the ground with no way down. With the resort closed until the following weekend and frostbite and hypothermia already setting in, the trio is forced to take desperate measures to escape off the mountain before they freeze to death. Once they make their move, they discover with horror that they have much more to fear than just the frigid cold. As they combat unexpected obstacles, they start to question if their will to survive is strong enough to overcome the worst ways to die.

THE VERDICT

It's cold and blizzard! Frozen is supposed to be a special horror thriller movie that comes out of the year's coveted Sundance Film Festival, to challenge your own perception about surviving some of the most extreme weather of subzero and fears. Unfortunately, Frozen does not excite me even a bit nor making me to feel ultimately disappointed. Frozen is merely an average thriller that does not have anything to liberate itself from the same old tiresome thrilling feels. Read on to know why.

Frozen tells the story of two best friends Joe Lynch (Ashmore) and Dan Walker (Zegers) went skiing on one weekend at the ski resort which opened only for three days a week. Dan's girlfriend, Parker (Bell) tagged along too. What started as a perfect weekend getaway for the trio turned nightmare. The trio get stranded 50 feet above the ground on their chairlift before their last run and the ski patrols called the weekend off. Realizing that they might be getting trapped until the next weekend while frostbite and hypothermia are creeping in quick, the trio were forced to make a decision of life and death.

Director Adam Green gives a very promising theme and story here. Imagine this; what would you do if you get stranded 50 feet above the ground in nothing more than a space for three inside the chairlift? Sounds fun but not so when you need to consider about surviving the next few days battling with blizzard and hungry pack of wolves below. Not cool at all! 

The reality is that while the story sounds promising, Adam Green's own writing is not anyway as strong as the promising arc it sounded. The dimension of the story is pretty much lifeless, leaving the story to stick on the snowboard for nothing. It looks very obvious that Green did not commanded the movie that well and not even the simple scratch of the screenplay at such could do any impact at all. Excessive conversation that does not create any havoc or intensity is an issue here. If only the dialog is any way more cheesier and tense than this, it might be fun. Or else, get somebody else to do the acting part. It is also noted that there isn't much of story that Frozen seems to be exploring. Green must proved himself more edgier and stronger in conducting a simple movie like this. Frozen is a basic movie but like others, it can goes wrong.


At least at not all angle did Green failed. He managed to make use of the simple acknowledgement of fear of height (acrophobia) and harshness of blizzard to anchor the story. Also, he managed to deliver some decent degrees of thrills and goriness. But it seems like the good things stop right there.

THE CONCLUSION

In a nutshell, Frozen proved itself a critical thriller flick when you need one. However, after sitting through a 90 minutes adventure of surviving the cold weather and some wolves, the movie feels inadequate. It gives some personal touch of goriness and make use of the sense of acrophobia well but it did not give itself much room to expand the story and thrill at all. Frozen can be good and bad at the same time. I hope there are more to make it a first-rate degree thriller. CAN BETTER THAN THIS!!

THE RATING

Story - 3.0 stars

Casts - 2.5 stars

Cinematography - 3.5 stars

Effects - 3.5 stars

OVERALL - 3.0 stars

GREEN-TEA-O-METER: 12.0