Ideal material for a suspense movie...
Frozen: Not for the faint-hearted. |
Given that
this is a movie with a story which can be summarised in one sentence, you might
think there’s not a lot of potential for plot development but in actual fact
once the predicament begins, Frozen features almost constant action and
numerous plot twists along the way. Although
you could argue that artistic licence has been used with one or two of the
twists that the characters face, their reaction to these twists always come
across as plausible and an accurate portrayal of how you might react in such a
situation.
Not all of these twists are predictable, however, and this is a movie that often has you reacting with shock and surprise as you think to yourself, ‘Oh no!’ Or rather, ‘O-o-oooohhhh n-n-nnnoooo!!!’ In fact the tension throughout the movie is so heavy that by the end you’re almost glad it’s over as it means you can finally let out a deep breath and relax.
The extreme nature of their circumstances means that the friends go through many emotional stages as they first attempt to come to terms with the situation and then frantically ponder on their best course of action to follow. As you’d expect the initial reaction is one of fear and panic with later responses being to blame each other for their predicament. All in all every stage they go through seems to arrive at the perfect moment and follows the likely roller coaster of how your emotions would react if you were unlucky enough to find yourself in the traumatic situation of potentially freezing to death up a ski-lift.
Not all of these twists are predictable, however, and this is a movie that often has you reacting with shock and surprise as you think to yourself, ‘Oh no!’ Or rather, ‘O-o-oooohhhh n-n-nnnoooo!!!’ In fact the tension throughout the movie is so heavy that by the end you’re almost glad it’s over as it means you can finally let out a deep breath and relax.
The extreme nature of their circumstances means that the friends go through many emotional stages as they first attempt to come to terms with the situation and then frantically ponder on their best course of action to follow. As you’d expect the initial reaction is one of fear and panic with later responses being to blame each other for their predicament. All in all every stage they go through seems to arrive at the perfect moment and follows the likely roller coaster of how your emotions would react if you were unlucky enough to find yourself in the traumatic situation of potentially freezing to death up a ski-lift.
As you’d
expect from a movie which has the characters mentally and physically battling
to stay alive, Frozen is a movie which is certainly not for the faint-hearted,
and one which regularly has you squirming and wincing. Sometimes the uneasiness comes from the
tension of the situation, and at other times from the physical traumas the
characters experience. After the opening
introduction is out of the way you are constantly on the edge of your seat as
the three friends explore all their possibilities as to how they can get out of
this alive. To add to the drama of the
plot, nature is very rarely on their side and instead just seems set on adding
to their woes.
Perhaps the
fact that nature itself is the enemy was why I enjoyed this movie so much. With many suspense movies, the danger comes
from a supernatural source such as zombies or aliens, but in this case they are
faced with real life threats which therefore make the action all the more unsettling. You inevitably find yourself asking what you
would do in such a situation and this makes it easier to relate to the fear and
horror that the characters experience. Psychological
suspense has been done many times before but in this case the real life nature
of the threat meant that Frozen came across as maybe not quite unique but
certainly refreshing.
If you were looking for faults then the opening half hour is fairly uneventful and basically only there to set the scene for the main plot. You could argue that this introduction also ensures that once their predicament begins you are more emotionally attached to the characters than you would have been if they had been plunged into their fate straight away, but I would nevertheless ideally have preferred to see the opening scenes trimmed slightly and the main action arrived at a little sooner.
But once
the slow start was out of the way, Frozen had me hooked. The twists and turns play with the emotions
and hopes of the viewer just as much as they do the characters. The writers have thought up an interesting
list of plot devices to thwart the characters in their survival attempts and
balanced this with a selection of possible escape strategies which drip-feed them
the tiniest amount of hope.
If you’re
the type of person who watches Star Wars and thinks to yourself, ‘Huh! If Tattooine really had twin stars then the huge
gravity forces would prevent planets within its solar system from sustaining
life!’ then you might likewise spot a few points to pick up on in Frozen as
well, but for the rest of us, once it gets into its stride Frozen is a very
well edited movie that has you on the edge of your seat for almost the entire
final hour of the movie.
It’s
dramatic viewing which at times will have you unable to watch, yet
paradoxically not wanting to look away.
The trauma and isolation of the story have been captured extremely well
by writer/director Adam Green, and although this is a simple story, enough
twists have been added to ensure the finished product is a very well executed
movie and one which is highly recommended for anyone who enjoys tension and
suspense.
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