Polar, based on novel by Victor Santos Eight out of 10

Polar, based on novel by Victor Santos

Eight out of 10

Madds Mikkelsen is such a formidable, outstanding actor that he can carry a film to incredible levels.

Nonetheless, Polar is not this cinephile’s genre and as such, it seems impossible for a cinematic God to make it worthwhile.

If anyone can, it would be Mikkelsen.

Matt Lucas is another extraordinary artist that has the role of the villain in this motion picture.

I would rather see him anytime in Little Britain, a fantastic comedy series where he is amazing.

Madds Mikkelsen is Duncan Vizla aka the Dark Kaiser, a former assassin with incredible skills.

Therefore, we have been in this territory so many times before and no matter what stunts, supernatural powers are brought into play, there is a sense of déjà vu.

Forced to retire, the former killer is called upon to eliminate another murderer who has taken out former colleagues of the protagonist

They have worked for an agency; a nefarious company controlled by the ultimate monster, Blut aka Matt Lucas.

His plan is to benefit from the insurance plans of his ex- employees, in the case of Duncan, the sum owed is eight million dollars.

Michael Green aka Johnny Knoxville is terminated in the opening scenes, but it is an inside job.

The Dark Kaiser is told that Blut relies on his famous skills to take revenge for the killing of Green and a few others.

He has to travel to Minsk – by the way, the producers of film make the mistake of stating that Belarus is in Russia…the latter has great sway over the former, which used to be a Soviet republic, but they are different countries now.

This is where we see the hero in action for the first time and he kills with expected ease a Mexican hired gun and his acolytes, understanding that he is actually the target and this was a trap.

The skilled assassin uses a drilling machine to extract the truth from his archenemy, but he does not see at this point who is after him.

Duncan Visla has chosen a remote location, in the woods, where he has a cabin, takes a lovely little dog – Belgian bulldog. – which he kills in one of his nightmares during which he accidentally fires his gun.

He has found an interesting, if evidently traumatized neighbor, and he gets close to her, allowing an unexpected turn of events to change the tables, right near the end where friend becomes foe.

The film is bizarre and indeed cartoonish in that the team sent to eliminate the alleged best killer of them all is composed of some frenetic sadists, but a sane mind would not trust those people at all.

In the same way in which 007 could never be a real agent, for he is too obvious and attracts the attention where in real life he must blend in, these lunatics are so conspicuous as to be more of a group of crazies than a hit squad.

The well-prepared Dark Kaiser makes the mistake of engaging with one of the woman in the killing team, she has sex with him and during their very active embraces, and the other lunatics start shooting.

The hero escapes…obviously.

He is sent down by a former friend though…Porter aka Richard Dreyfuss.

In the torture that follows, Blut cuts the protagonist for Three Days!

Why not try to escape on the first day, instead of waiting for exhaustion and terrible trauma?

Anyway, the way to watch is would be to go along for the ride, not use the analytic functions of the mind too much, if at all.