Arctic Blast (2010)

Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Simply A Masterpiece

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

As far as low budget, B-grade disaster flicks go this was about what you'd expect. I've seen way worse Sy Fy movies for sure. Decent enough premise (basically borrowed from 'The Day After Tomorrow') and an enjoyable lead in Michael Shanks who even gets a bit of a back story revolving around his teenage daughter and impending divorce.The story jumps around (a lot) between Philadelphia (actually Ottawa) and Hobart Australia (actually Hobart), following a renowned physicist trying to figure out how to stop a sudden climate shift which has opened up a hole in the ozone that threatens to engulf the world in a new Ice Age and wipe out mankind.Of course initially none of the higher up government dudes believe the hero scientist when he tells them that bad things are happening until, well, worse things happen. Taking the form of deadly ice fog (-90deg) killing in seconds and presumably able to chase cars. Airliners also crash, a research vessel runs aground full of soggy dead scientists, there are frozen surfers, general panic and running in the streets. You know all the stuff that makes for an "awesome" B movie.Some of the insta-freeze scenes are unintentionally hilarious, the budget is low so the special effects are all lame and of course none of the science works but I still had a good time with this. I am a fan of the good (bad) disaster flicks though. 12/27/14

Title: Arctic Blast Directed by: Brian Trenchard-SmithStoryline: We start off with a narrator reading white text on a black background. Straight away this reads as a tell tail sign that this movie doesn't have the most professional people work on it, mainly as this is a very amateurish way to open a movie. We then move to a CGI shot of the earth, which actually looks very decent and makes up for the opening narrative. You then see it zooming into the continent of Australia. You guessed it, the movie is going to be set down under. We're introduced to an atmospheric physicist called Jack who is talking with his friend, Alex his who is on a boat studying the ozone layer. We also learn that Jack is having marital problems, and to make things worse a hole in the mesosphere has opened up and is letting in supercooled ice fog which freezes everything in it path. It just so happens that it opens up right in front of the ship Alex is on. Needless to say, everyone on the ship is frozen. We also learn that Jack is a bad parent as he forgot his daughter's 16th birthday, but seeing as this is a thriller movie, she is going to be in danger at some point and he is going to need to save her. Two more people are killed by this ice fog and the people who's job it is to look out for these things are still completely unaware of this killer ice fog rolling into the coast. We are also shown that one of the characters, Zoe is diabetic. Keep that in mind as chances are it'll come back into relevance later in the story. The ship Alex was on drifts into shore and Jack gets a call about it so they go and investigate to found out what happened to it. We are also introduced to the "Higher authority won't believe the scientist" cliché when Jack tries to warn Walter about the cold front. Because of this, Jack goes behind Walter's back and uses a back door to access a military satellite to get a better look at the cold front. Jack's daughter skips out on school to go surfing with her friends on the beach where the cold front is expected to hit. Jack goes to the school his daughter is suppose to be at and finds out from her friend that she has gone surfing with the others and he has to get to the beach in time to rescue her. He is able to rescue her but not her friends as he outruns the fog in his truck. The cold front hits the bay and starts to freeze people, but you also get a scene which shows a plane trying to land, surely air traffic control would have stop all departing and arriving flights before they get too close to turn back as a state of emergency had be declared hours earlier. But once Jack and his daughter get to the lab Zoe's blood sugar is low and along with the added problem of more rifts opening up across the world creating more cold fronts. Walter ignores Jack's solution for the ice fronts and makes his own which naturally fail, and if you look carefully at one of the background computers in the main office you will see what seems to be Facebook on the screen. Once Walter realizes he was wrong, he comes groveling back to Jack hoping he has a plan. Zoe collapses due to low blood sugar so Jack has to go out and brave the cold to get her insulin. The main problem with this is that he uses a car to get there, petrol and diesel freeze around -40ºC. The ice fog has been said to be -90, we do not know if this is in ºF or ºC, either way the fuel in his car should be frozen solid along with oil, break fluid, anti freeze and other liquids essential for the car's use. His plan is a success and the rift starts closing, and because he saved all of Australia and possibly the world his wife instantly forgives him and falls in love with him again. Acting: The acting is actually believable, especially with the tension scenes between Jack and his wife. But shame the same cannot be said about Alex's death scene. The daughter seems quite whinny that her dad works too much, but her acting skills range from being annoying and unbelievable to providing a decent performance. Graphics: The CGI for the supercooled ice fog isn't all too bad, but it is CGI for the ice vortex that the fog came down in, was less than impressive as it did look like obvious CGI. The CGI for the plane explosion was similar to that of what you would see in cheesy 80's action movies when something would explode. Overall Feel: Well, the whole premise of a rift in the ozone causing flash freezing is utter nonsense, the ozone does not stop the cold mesosphere from reaching earth. The ozone does two things, it absorbs almost 99% of the suns UV radiation and it traps vital heat inside the planet. If you don't mind a movie that isn't scientifically accurate and has borderline decent CGI, this is a great movie for you. The characters are generally quite well rounded and believable for the most part, the camera work is decently simplistic to a sense where you can see what is going on and it is presented professionally. The people who made this movie looked like they were actually trying to make a good movie and I give them props for that as it is a good movie if you can get over it's scientific inaccuracy and lacking effects. A good, fun, well-rounded movie worth watching.

A solar eclipse allows a massive blast of lethal super cold air to seep into a hole in the ozone layer that threatens to bring about a second Ice Age. Maverick physicist Jack Tate (a solid and likable performance by Michael Shanks) has to figure out a way to reverse the damage before it's the end of the world as we know it. Director Brian Trenchard-Smith, working from a delightfully preposterous script by Jason Bourque, treats the gloriously absurd premise with utmost seriousness, builds a reasonable amount of tension, and keeps the absorbing narrative hurtling along at a snappy pace. The sound acting by the capable cast holds the picture together: Alexandra Davis as Jack's fed-up wife Emma, Indiana Evans as Jack's spunky daughter Naomi, Bruce Davison as Jack's weary, pragmatic superior Winslaw, Saskia Hampele as sassy diabetic Zoe, Judith Barbeau as Winslaw's shrewd assistant Tammy, and Nick Falk as the cautious Brent Durant. The shots of various luckless folks getting turned into instant Popsicles are pretty cool. The dodgy CGI effects, completely dubious "science," and Jack's tacky melodramatic family woes all add immensely to this movie's considerable hokey charm. Marc Windon's slick cinematography provides an impressive polished look. Mario Sevigny's spirited majestic score hits the stirring spot. Good silly Grade B cheeseball fun.

Since long I haven't seen such a worthless movie! I wondered where they found so many bad actors/actresses. The play was so obviously imitating the better movies and acting, it was shameful, and hopelessly boring, tedious, time wasting! I stopped this film halfway, couldn't stand it any longer. Why does it appear to be so often the case with disaster movies? I've seen a few, but it seems to be difficult to make a good one. Arctic blast excels in achieving the opposite. Those people they gathered, so totally uninteresting and mediocre! And that awful Australian accent! All in all, don't go and see this dragon. You've seen more of those absolutely annoying productions, haven't you? This surely is one of them, and out of the lower regions. Avoid!