The Max Crime Thriller You Won’t Believe Is A True Story
Nicolas Cage and John Cusack formed an unlikely alliance in Con Air when the Jailbird was hijacked by a bunch of convicts hellbent on breaking out of prison. While Cage and Cusack were both on the right side of the law in the action thriller film, The Frozen Ground gave us a more adversarial dynamic that shouldn’t be overlooked. But you may have overlooked the film because it had a very limited run in theaters before being released directly to video-on-demand.
John Cusack Plays A Real Life Serial Killer
The Frozen Ground is based on the real-life Alaskan serial killer, Robert Hansen, who claimed the lives of at least 17 girls between 1972 and 1983. The film takes a close look at Hansen’s life, and goes into great detail how he abducted, sexually assaulted, and murdered his victims by letting them loose in the Alaskan wilderness and hunting them like animals. Though you may be more familiar with John Cusack’s efforts on the romantic comedy front, he’s nothing short of menacing in The Frozen Ground.
The Story
Nicolas Cage takes on the role of state trooper Jack Halcombe in The Frozen Ground. When a woman’s decomposing and mutilated body is found in the wilderness, he’s called to investigate the crime scene.
Meanwhile, 17-year-old Cindy Paulson tells detectives that she was kidnapped and sexually assaulted by Robert Hansen. Since she’s a sex worker who initially lied about her age, the officers don’t believe her recounting of events.
Halcombe makes a startling connection when he takes a closer look at a number of unsolved murders in the area and interviews Paulson about her own run-in with Hansen. Every gruesome detail of Paulson’s near-fatal encounter closely resembles the cold cases that come across Halcombe’s desk.
Hansen Is Almost Impossible To Catch
The primary source of tension in The Frozen Ground, aside from the active serial killer on the loose, is made apparent when Halcombe realizes that he has no solid evidence to get an arrest warrant. On paper, Hansen is an upstanding citizen, but not without a troubled past. In other words, we’re not just dealing with a psychopath on the loose who’s getting ready to kill again, but also the bureaucratic hoops that detectives have to jump through to get an arrest warrant.
More Procedural Than Whodunnit
The Frozen Ground is not your typical whodunit kind of film, but rather a crime procedural that focuses on connecting the dots. It doesn’t take long for the viewer to establish that Hansen is the guy they’re after, and the film’s primary focus is proving his guilt or catching him in the act.
Reception To The Frozen Ground
Since The Frozen Ground didn’t have a wide theatrical release, it never had a chance to be a massive hit. It was only when the film was released on streaming that audiences caught up with Cusack and Cage to see what they were up to in 2013.
Critically speaking, The Frozen Ground garnered a 61 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. While some of the more negative reviews suggest that the movie belongs in the supermarket bargain bin, Cage and Cusack both received a considerable amount of praise for their performances in this dark thriller. The wide, establishing shots of the Alaskan wilderness were also held in high regard by fans and haters alike.
A Solid, Suspenseful Film
While The Frozen Ground doesn’t necessarily bring anything new to the crime-thriller genre, it boasts a solid narrative based on true events, and is beautifully shot. And it’s always great to see Nicolas Cage and John Cusack go head-to-head, no matter what side of the law they’re on. If this kind of cat-and-mouse game sounds like it’s up your alley, you can stream The Frozen Ground on Max.
