The Last Winter
September. 11,2006 PG-13In the Arctic region of Northern Alaska, an oil company's advance team struggles to establish a drilling base that will forever alter the pristine land. After one team member is found dead, a disorientation slowly claims the sanity of the others as each of them succumbs to a mysterious fear.
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Reviews
People are voting emotionally.
Fantastic!
It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.
It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.
I was never so grateful for fast forwarding capabilities, so I could miss being inundated with how humans are responsible for climate change. Climate has been changing just fine on its' own for quite a few years. Give me a break.
This film has beautiful scenes of the Artic, interesting and original characters and good acting. It has a tense, original and scary storyline. (The popular theme of a group of people being picked off one by one in a secluded location makes me think of Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None" story. I am wondering if that was the 1st use?)Having stated the positive aspects of the film, I have to add the CGI at the end of this movie is right out of a SyFy Channel's "monster movie of the week" lineup (not exactly a compliment). It would have been a great movie if the end had been done differently. As we all know, it scarier to have us imagine what we can't see, rather than do a lackluster job with special effects
The Last Winter seems to be a conscious update of Peter Weir's The Last Wave, both with themes of humans cracking under the strain of an environmental crisis. This doesn't cover substantially new territory, but succeeds in an atmosphere of dread, and events that leave you guessing: is the crew suffering from gas exposure? Hallucinations? Is a dark spirit from the Inuit mythology to blame? LW does a nice job of balancing these possibilities, letting you be the judge. Ron Perlman is good as the gruff, by the book boss who looks after his crew, James LeGros is a very serious environmentalist who is no more ready than the others for events that defy his rational mind, and several of the other characters, while needing a bit more depth, do good work with what they have. The film has been criticized for a rather vague ending, usually from the people who always want a big rubbery monster to show up and then get conveniently killed, resolving everything in an instantly forgettable climax. But, if you care to exercise that brain behind your eyes, you may find the questions of Last Winter lingering long after explosions and FX are forgotten.
Even if you are a patient film-watcher, this movie will try your patience. It starts off well enough, in a bleak part of Alaska (where it also ends, and where all the so-called "action" takes place). An oil company's exploratory team establishes a base and explores. Weird, inexplicable stuff happens. People have visions...or are they seeing real things? There are consequences. The characters aren't engaging so we don't care much, but we do get teased along for the ride. Are there monsters of some kind? Malevolent forces? "Oh," you think. "That reminds me of "The Shining." "Ah," you sigh. "Aliens." "The Thing, the THING!" you think.More supposedly weird stuff happens and finally, there's an ending of sorts, one which I think will disappoint most viewers. I gave this 3 stars because I like snow-and-ice settings in movies and it rather infuriatingly held my interest just enough that I wanted to see the outcome. I will not be watching it again to make sure I didn't miss anything.