The Last Winter (2008) 5/10

It was bound to happen sometime. It started with the Happening and continues with The Last Winter. Given all the mis-information about the supposed global warming crisis, horror films reflecting the fear of melting ice-caps and the heating of the earth were inevitable. Let me make something clear, I don't believe in human created global warming. Period. That being said I love horror films that try to play on modern societal fears, even if i don't agree with the politics behind it. As long as their intelligent that is.

The Last Winter is set up in the arctic where an oil drilling company is scouting places to drill. An environmental impact advisor is with them, making sure they don't break any laws while also studying the tundra's changing climate. The ice is melting, releasing things that have been frozen for thousands of years. How will it effect the crew, and the world?

I was afraid that the drilling company employees were going to be portrayed as the devil and that the environmental impact employees were going to be portrayed as Jesus. Thankfully that wasn't the case. Sure the drilling people are rough but they're also portrayed as being fair and intelligent. The environmentalists also have their strengths and weaknesses. These are people, not political caricatures, and for that I'm thankful. The film is beautifully directed with wonderful cinematography that belies the tiny budget. The acting is pretty damn good with known actors like hellboy's Ron Pearlman. The pace is pretty fast and the script is engaging, up to a point that is. The problem with The Last Winter, is that we don't really know what's effecting the crew or how its effecting them. I don't even think the scriptwriter or director knows either. I get the feeling that instead of giving us something concrete they decided to let the audience fill in the gaps with whatever they want. I want something tangible or at least explainable. Is it a gas as is suggested? Is it microorganisms? What exactly is its effect? The film comes off as a super watered down version of The Thing because of it. We know the crew is freaking out, but they're all reacting differently. The buildup is great, but the pay off is weak. In fact they even decide to throw in some Inuit folklore at the end just to confuse things further, and stick in some laughably bad CGI effects to crap up the film further. Had the script been tighter and more focused, and had there been no CGI the film might have worked. I also have to mention the global warming soapboxing scene involving narration and stock footage. Aside from being preachy, misguided, uninformed, and irritating, it also took me right out of the film. It didn't seem to have a place in a movie that's already harping on global warming. Its almost as if the constant dialogue involving wasn't enough. They had to really shove more of it down our throats, because they must think we're idiots. Well, I'm not, and the soapboxing wasn't needed. I got the point.

In the end The Last Winter is a film that could have been great given the talent of the actors and director, because of the script, it wasn't.

Nudity-mild

Gore-mild

Overall - 5/10