Rating: B
Dir: Óskar Thór Axelsson
Star: Vivian Ólafsdóttir, Jack Fox, Iain Glen, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson
As the temperature surges past 40 C here in Arizona, on a daily basis, this provides the cinematic equivalent of a cool breeze. We’re only a few seconds into this before we get the first Icelandic snow flurries, and the temperature on-screen remains pretty chill thereafter. For we are deep into Scandicrime territory, thought the protagonist here is, by the standards of the genre, relatively well-adjusted. Sure, hotshot lawyer Kristín Jóhannesdóttir (Ólafsdóttir) is estranged from her alcoholic father. But she can hold a conversation and maintain eye contact. For a Nordic Noir heroine, that makes her very high-functioning. She is therefore well equipped to handle herself, when her brother disappears off a glacier, after sending her pics of a crashed, Nazi-era aircraft.
And she needs to be. Because that turns out to be the tip of a conspiracy, stretching back almost eighty years. Time has not dulled its edge, with a murky group within the CIA, led by William Carr (Glen, affecting an American accent), who are keen to a) recover the contents of the aircraft, and b) make sure nobody else knows about it. Which brings them after Kristin. Fortunately – and what are the odds? – her ex-boyfriend, Steve Rush (Fox), just so happens to be an expert in the period. So he is perfectly placed to offer helpful advice, as the pair dodge the killers sent after them by Carr, on their way to discovering the aircraft’s secret.
To be honest, plausibility is probably not the strong suit here. The CIA seem to be operating more like SPECTRE, with zero accountability to anyone, least of all their own government (a not-so veiled threat to the Icelandic ambassador is all it takes), and infinite resources. Yet they are somehow unable to get rid of one awkward witness, armed with nothing more than a keen legal mind and a very nice Icelandic jumper. However, putting that to one side, this was highly entertaining. The characters are probably what cause it to work. Ólafsdóttir makes for a winning heroine, while Fox deals with his role as Basil Exposition effectively, avoiding getting bogged down by it. Ólafsson (familiar from TV series Trapped) has a good turn as a sniper-capable farmer.
On the other side, once you get past Glen’s accent, he makes for a suitably menacing villain. It’ll help if you can forget Game of Thrones. The resulting chase goes from urban Reykjavik through increasingly more rural settings, ending up back on the Vatnajökull glacier, which we learn is bigger than Wales (and was, coincidentally, also used as a location for Game of Thrones). It’s briskly paced and, if proceedings are occasionally a little too dark for their own good, is technically well-handled, with a genuine sense of frozen place. I did roll my eyes somewhat at the way the movie signalled a sequel, with all the subtlety of the 3rd Battalion, Queen’s Own Semaphorers. But, you know what? I’d watch it.