TL;DR – A film with an interesting premise that is unable to capture its potential because of some choices, like a very dour tone.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was sent a screener of this film.

Icefall Review Introduction –

There are a lot of variations on the heist film, and one of my favourites is what happens when everything goes wrong. When you have gotten the money, but then it goes missing, you must hunt it down. Today, we are looking at a film that is paying in that space, with the added difficulty of never knowing if your next step will plunge you into the icy depths.

So, to set the scene, we open with a pawn shop getting robbed, but not for its valuables, but for the secrets it holds in the basement. Hidden safes, in clandestine basements, secured behind a front. Nothing legal is happening here, but when you mess with the Albanian Mob, you don’t have to be worried about just the police coming after you. But you may have the best plans in the world, and none of that will hold up to a rogue lightning strike crashing your plane. Five months later, and the snow has started to thaw, the rivers have started to flow, and a pesky GPS tag might have just sent everyone who knows into the forest to look for money that can change lives.   

Set-up

As for all films that work in this space, you need a hook that brings you into this world, and Icefall has it in spades. We start with a heist gone wrong, a plane crash with hidden money, and a whole lot of people looking for the money. Then it is about layering in the complications. Joel Kinnaman as the wanderer with a past who found the money, Cara Jade Myers as the game warden who got caught in the middle, a team that has been out of money for six months that is starting to fray around the edges, and a lake that could give way at any moment. It is the groundwork that you need to do in a film like this in order to bring the tension once everything falls apart.

Execution

While I do have some reservations about the film, I will say that the execution of the film was generally solid. The action is fine for a movie like this, a lot of bullets bouncing off rocks, and people running. It’s not spectacular, but it gets the job done. There are moments where this gets escalated with jet skis, bear traps, and knives you don’t see coming. One thing that is clear right from the start is that everything filmed on the ice was not filmed on the ice. It’s not a deal breaker, but once you see it, you can’t unsee it, and it does take you out of the film in places. I will also let someone more learned than me comment on the Indigenous representation in this film.  

Tone

One area where you can feel the film not quite gel together is in the tone that they chose to go with. Everything in the movie is so serious and dour, even though it is a profoundly farcical situation. Every character monologues or talks as if they exist in a world with only one character motivation, which means that there is absolutely no nuance at any point in the film. There is a version of this film where people are chewing the scenery like Danny Huston is in every moment he is on screen, and I think that would have been a more interesting film. You don’t need to go Cocaine Bear broad to still have some personality.

Recommendation

In the end, do we recommend Icefall? While I would not say this is a bad film, it does not do a lot to step above being quite average. I think I am being a little harsh here because you could see the potential, but I am not sorry that I sat down to watch an escapade on the ice.   

Have you watched Icefall? Let us know what you thought in the comments below. If you liked Icefall, we would recommend Ambulance to you because it also plays in the space of what happens when you get caught up in a heist gone wrong.  

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Bluesky at @Tldrmovrev, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

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Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Icefall
Directed by – Stefan Ruzowitzky
Written by – George Mahaffey & Steve Isles
Music by – Deepak Ramapriyan
Cinematography by – Benedict Neuenfels
Edited by – William Paley
Production/Distribution Companies – Signature, Arclight Films, Top Film, Aura Entertainment  
Starring – Joel Kinnaman, Cara Jade Myers, Martin Sensmeier, DeVaughn Nixon, Frida Gustavsson, Danny Huston, Will Fletcher, Oliver Trevena, Trevor Van Uden, Graham Greene, Bashar Rahal, Michael Saccente, Joyce Grey-Carter, Addam Bramich & Euan Macnaughton
Rating – Australia: MA15+; Canada: na; Germany: 16; New Zealand: na; United Kingdom: 15; United States: R