Hello and welcome to Conner’s Critiques. My name is Conner Sharp and I’m very excited to return once more to do another review for this website and share it all with you. My reviews/critiques will be based on three categories: Story, Acting, and Overall. So lets begin.
We decided to try out the comic book based movie, Polar with Mads Mikkelsen. If you haven’t seen the movie yet, do not fret, we will do our best to not give any direct major spoilers. That being said, we will be talking about some non-groundbreaking things, that might be slightly spoiler-ish. Read at your own risk.
STORY: 5/10
I first what to start off and clarify that I really like this movie, for so many reasons. However, the story is not so much the reason. I know that it’s a graphic novel. I know the character “Black Kaiser” was invented in 2009, published in 2010, and then the creator, Víctor Santos, started working on the Polar story in 2011. I know that the creator of John Wick, Derek Kolstad, finished the work, and it was purchased in 2012. It is unfortunate for Polar, that John Wick was made into a movie first, and people view the former as a rip off of the latter. That being said, it is very clear why Netflix wanted to gobble up the rights to this film.
However, I won’t say this movie’s story fails originality simply because of the existence of John Wick. Movies like Payback also bite off the same apple. It’s not a unique story they are telling. That being said, the movie does do quite an awesome job in my opinion to compensate for the issue of the action world.
In the Wick films, the main character is a God Level killer, but the world still has a level of realism with the character having to exist still and perform realistic actions.
In the Polar world, it is a comic book universe. Everything is over the top. While the action on it’s face might feel similar, the way the character takes damage, and is able to perform things, are all over the top superhero-esc performances that is not within the realm of reality. It breaths comic book world, and I love it.
ACTING: 9/10
Mads Mikkelsen (The Black Kaiser), Katheryn Winnick (Vivian), and Vanessa Hudgens (Camille) all perform amazingly. I had to actually look up Camille, because although I am aware of Hudgens, I couldn’t even tell it was her.
All of the actors leaned into their characters so well. You can feel them, and understand them in such impressive ways. They are believable in a way that it shouldn’t be so, with the world being so over the top.
The main characters, and supportive characters, are amazing when it comes building the world. They take a story that primarily takes place over a couple days, and turn it into a beautifully well crafted story.
OVERALL: 9/10
I think the story was played quite a bit in the history of the world, but the acting, and the action style really pulls this piece together. I will worn though, this movie is super bloody, and has a bunch of nudity. As a result of the nudity and violence, be careful who you watch this with. But do watch this film.
Conner’s Final Thought(s):
I hope that this is just the start of a larger series for this comic book world. There is material, and there is interest from all involved.
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