I've seen this film compared to several other films but the one it reminded me of was the 1988 Sidney portier adventure "Shoot to Kill" which is actually quite good. That's not the case with this one, a direct to video movie starring Rutger Hauer and Dylan Walsh, surprisingly boring in spite of all the action, the Yukon scenery and an intense plotline. Not surprisingly, the film is absurd on many levels, having quite a few moments where man fights nature and wins, which in the case of the snowy wilderness is highly unlikely.
One dimensionally goody goody, Walsh is a law enforcement official from L. A., working to stop poachers during out of season. The poachers, of which Hauer is one of, are pretty disgusting as humans, although Hauer as the star gets to be a bit more decent, even though he has become involved in a pointless murder. Hauer ends up being in Walsh's custody and when the helicopter they are in on the way back to civilization crashes in the mountains, they have to depend on each other for survival. But they are soon in civilization, and Hauer decides to protect Walsh from his grizzled partners.
As in the case of many of these types of films, there's a comic relief native, using wisecracks to explain his wisdom of the wild. My one moment of this that could have led to a better film was when Walsh and his wife found a trapped wolf and with the help of a tranquilizer gun help free it. The cute Arctic wolf gives a better performance in its few minutes on screen than Hauer and Walsh do in 90 minutes. It's usually difficult to get bored and sleepy in adventurous nature thrillers like this, but for some reason I did, managing to make it through only because I'm a glutton for punishment when some panoramic wintery settings are involved.
One dimensionally goody goody, Walsh is a law enforcement official from L. A., working to stop poachers during out of season. The poachers, of which Hauer is one of, are pretty disgusting as humans, although Hauer as the star gets to be a bit more decent, even though he has become involved in a pointless murder. Hauer ends up being in Walsh's custody and when the helicopter they are in on the way back to civilization crashes in the mountains, they have to depend on each other for survival. But they are soon in civilization, and Hauer decides to protect Walsh from his grizzled partners.
As in the case of many of these types of films, there's a comic relief native, using wisecracks to explain his wisdom of the wild. My one moment of this that could have led to a better film was when Walsh and his wife found a trapped wolf and with the help of a tranquilizer gun help free it. The cute Arctic wolf gives a better performance in its few minutes on screen than Hauer and Walsh do in 90 minutes. It's usually difficult to get bored and sleepy in adventurous nature thrillers like this, but for some reason I did, managing to make it through only because I'm a glutton for punishment when some panoramic wintery settings are involved.