Bullet Points: Against the Ice (2022)
Being an explorer now probably consists of sending drones or underwater submarines all over the place with high definition cameras and sitting back with a controller in your hand. Just a little over a hundred years ago, though, being an explorer was mostly about freezing your nuts off and trying not to fall in a crevasse. At least that is what I learned from watching my boy Nikolaj Coster-Waldau’s newest flick on Netflix. I wonder if these guys shoved the little “hot hands” packets into their shoes like I did when I went ice fishing in Canada? There’s nothing like drinking about 16 beers out on the ice while you’re freezing your ass off to only catch one fish. Good times….
Synopsis: In 1909, two explorers fight to survive after they’re left behind while on a Denmark expedition in ice-covered Greenland.
- The Great White Nothing: A Danish expedition to Greenland to attempt to map out the northern expanses of the land and keep those pesky Americans from claiming it sounds easier said than done. Veteran explorer Ejnar Mikkelsen (Nikolaj) and his men are on the brink of disaster time and again due to weather, amputations, and being eaten by polar bears. All for a bunch of snow and ice. You can count me out!
- Process of elimination: When Ejnar’s #2 comes down with a case of the toelessness, the rest of the crew start to look for reasons to get out of going on the expedition with him and leaving the comfort of their iced in boat. They either don’t think that they have what it takes to make it alongside the man or they just think he has some sort of DEATH WISH. Either way, no one wants to partake in the exploration. That is until one of the new guys named Iver Iversen (Joe Cole) agrees to join in. You can tell that he looks up to the Captain and follow him around in an almost creepy way.
- Iron Wills: Okay, I’ve always loved the 90’s film Iron Will but that kid had nothing on these crazy bastards. Not only do they primarily use the dog sled as their mode of travel but it’s also a staple of their diet. Let’s just say that the longer they go on, the less food they have for the dogs. If you are a big dog lover then you’ll probably want to skip this one. I can’t recall many movies where they boil up the liver of a dog and snack on it.
- Danger ahead: There is danger all around them. Constant threat of freezing to death or dying from hypothermia. Falling through a sheet of ice or careening from the edge of a cliff. Hell, even something as simple as getting wet out there could be a DEATH SENTENCE. The one thing you wouldn’t want out there is to be stalked by a massive polar bear. That is something that pops up a couple of times throughout Against the Ice. Not just in physical form, but also in the explorers nightmares. There’s nothing quite like waking up to the growl of a bear.
- What really matters: With the journey nearing its conclusion and Ejnar and Iver slowly making their way back to the boat, things start to come into perspective a bit. What matters most for Ejnar is that his notes and his journals make it back to someone so they know what he and his partner had found. Their lives come second to the success of their expedition and you have to respect the hell of the man for that.
- Man vs Wild: Most of the film is a real battle between the two men and the elements of nature. The second conflict is for the men and their sanity. All of that time walking around the tundra with just one another and a vague direction of where they were going. Talk about a wild adventure. Nikolaj and Joe Cole play the characters extremely well and you really feel like they are slowly losing their minds. Seeing shit in the snow and essentially talking to ghosts becomes the norm. Forget the hungry, man-eating polar bears, you also gotta watch out for the man next to you because it’s clear these two are dealing with some real demons by the end.
The Verdict: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau continues to make great films that I can’t get enough of. This one isn’t as intense as Shot Caller or as easy a watch as The Silencing but it sure is damn good. Alongside Joe Cole, the two actors spend most of the film on screen with little to nothing happening outside of it. A few scenes are peppered in of the Danish Gov’t discussing whether or not to send a costly rescue mission after them but that felt more like just a way to get Charles Dance in your movie a little longer. I thought the scenes of them going through the snowy tundra was both beautiful and terrifying. Especially considering that they were out there for well over a year. As someone who has spend a considerable amount of time in close proximity to another person, I can imagine how being next another dude for that long would drive you a little mad. The setting and the environment are a big reason why this worked for me, not to mention my previously mentioned bias towards Nikolaj’s movies. I’m not sure if this movie is for everyone but I certainly enjoyed it.
