Review: The Thaw

At a remote research station somewhere in Arctic Canada, esteemed scientist and passionate environmentalist Val Kilmer is studying the effects of global warming on polar bears when he uncovers a prehistoric mammoth beneath ice, now thawed due to global warming. Before long, his colleagues (including Anne Marie DeLuise) have started to get violently ill, but he assures Ms. DeLuise, that help is on the way. Meanwhile, three college students (eco-warrior Aaron Ashmore, jerk Kyle Schmid, and Schmid’s ‘kinda’ girlfriend Steph Song) have been chosen to fly out and join Kilmer, and Kilmer has also reached out to his estranged daughter Martha MacIsaac. However, when the foursome are set to fly out, they are told by helicopter pilot Viv Leacock that Kilmer doesn’t want her there anymore. MacIsaac (who could care less about global warming, really), still pissed at her dad for not attending her mother’s funeral, says the hell with that, and goes anyway. When they reach the station, they find it deserted except for a seriously smelly, dead polar bear on a lab bench. And then poor Leacock gets bitten by something that came out of the polar bear carcass. Seems that the thawing out process unleashes a horde of nasty parasites that have been held captive since prehistoric times, but are now set to run amok, infecting our protagonists.

 

With a stupid title and arctic setting, this 2009 Canadian flick from co-writer/director Mark A. Lewis (apparently a former teacher) looked like a combo of “The Thing” and “10,000 BC”. In reality, it’s more of a deadly virus movie with a “Thing”-like setting. It’s mostly well-acted, has great scenery and some of the FX are good for a low-budget (Not-so much the parasites covering the polar bear, but that was still a cool idea and probably difficult to achieve). So there’s positives. Unfortunately, films where people throw up a lot aren’t really my deal, and this is one seriously icky, unpleasant movie that really doesn’t shy away from things like that. Some will like that the film is in-your-face in that respect (especially if you enjoyed “Cabin Fever”, which I loathed), I don’t deny. Worse than that, though, is the film’s use of the issue of global warming/climate change. It’s not just that it’s using a serious issue for schlocky purposes, I’m fine with that in theory. It’s just that it plays out in a totally heavy-handed, preachy manner at the expense of my interest. Val Kilmer’s character is so committed to the cause that he doesn’t even attend his wife’s funeral! I’m a believer in climate change, but I wanted to watch a movie, not “An Inconvenient Truth II”. Hell, it doesn’t even have the balls to be a real climate change film, simply a virus outbreak film with climate change tacked on. Personally, I think the scenery does more to sell the message than anything else in the film. We see the effects of global warming on the landscape throughout the film. On top of that, it loses points for having one character committing an act of eco-terrorism in the guise of doing greater good. It’s cheap and offensive, and made even worse when a final narration makes this character out to be more righteous than they really were, to keep the viewer on the same political thinking as the filmmaker obviously is. I believe the same thing the filmmaker seems to believe, but not the way things are done here. You see, everything that happens in the film makes this character out to be anything but a noble champion of an important cause. Their behaviour ruins everything. So whilst I can’t deny that parts of this film are effective – if revolting – I have serious misgivings about the film’s use of political issues (Climate change shouldn’t even really be a political issue, but that ship has sailed).

 

The acting, as I’ve said, is pretty decent, with MacIsaac seriously underrated in my view. I always thought she was the more impressive actress in “Superbad”, not the more famous Emma Stone. Ashmore always gives off ‘creepy nerd stalker with anger management issues’ vibes to me on screen, but he’s fine here. The only real disappointment in the cast is the slumming Kilmer, who is nowhere near top form here but is thankfully not on screen much. He’s better here than in “Hardwired”, though, I’ll give him that.

 

Some people are going to like this. I found it off-putting, not only in gory/icky content but particularly in how the issue of climate change is used in the film. A shame, because I could see a decent film being made out of the subject matter (I enjoyed “The Day After Tomorrow”, schlocky as it was).

 

Rating: C