I had high hopes for The Last Winter. Ron Perlman stars in it, you all might know him as Hellboy. I know him as one of the men old enough to be my father who I crush on like a silly teenager. He's a great actor, I love everything he's ever done. Yes, even when he was the Beast in the 90s during the television series of Beauty and the Beast. Oh yeah, I was there. I won't deny it. I still love him after this film, but, in the end, I was disappointed.
The movie centers around a group of people who have been hired to begin tapping the last untouched part of the Alasakan wilderness for oil. A few members of the group are "greens", men hired by the oil companies to prove that they are trying to evaluate the impact they are making on the environment. The two sides clash, the oil drillers and the greens, but all of the bickering is quickly set aside when people start going crazy and turning up dead. It seems that the ice is melting, and what is released from the icy depths is none too pleased with the human race.
The film is a slow burn, focusing on the bleak and desolate settings and characters, until all hell breaks loose. However, I was slightly disappointed in the climax of the "monsters". The end of the film did bring everything together nicely and left me feeling scared for the planet and all of us who reside upon it. Still, I felt the movie would have been helped if it had more scares instead of the heavy-handed preaching. I get it, I am one of those liberals who believe the environmental issue is the most important issue facing us today. But still. Give me some blood and action with my political statements.
All in all, it's a good movie for the budget it was made on, and the acting on all parts is top-notch. Just don't put it on expecting scares at every turn. If you are up for a really slow burn of a psychological thriller, then you won't be disappointed.
