This movie could have been a great "what-if"

Rating: 7/10 (2 July 2005)

This is a film I could really get into because I live in Winnipeg, Manitoba, lately the home of extreme weather. We just recently had freak thunderstorms and days of rain resulting in heavy, prairie engulfing flooding. As my basement flooded and I couldn't stop it, and my backyard became a lake, I wondered what would happen if the rain didn't stop. Winnipeg lies in the grip of deadly cold for weeks at a time, but somehow, this rain disturbed me. So, as soon as the rain subsided, I went to rent a video and the movie jumped out at me.
What was right? The graphics were great, especially in the first hour. The ideas were sound, at the beginning. I was excited  I thought I had it on a more or less realistic "what-if" that I could almost identify with! But no. It degenerated so fast it was ridiculous. Let's start with the obvious. When it gets really cold and icy, cold enough to freeze 4 feet or so of salinated ocean water, you are not going to be touching metal with your bare hands. But, that's what our friend Sam Hall did. Over and over again. And again. Jumping down the stairs as his hand glides effortlessly over the steel banner. Grabbing at metal runs, ledges, and so forth, and holding on and releasing with no trouble.
Let me describe a very very common event here in winter. I bet more than half the population of the US would be familiar from a very young age with this kind of story. Years ago, I placed my little boy in a metal shopping cart to go grocery shopping. It was about -20° outside (farenheit or Celsius, really doesn't matter when it is that cold) and there was a slight breeze. Not a bad winter eve. He was of course completely swaddled, except for his tongue. He just discovered that he needed to lick everything, and as I locked the car, I caught him in the corner of my eye dropping his head down to the metal cart. I knew what he was going to do, and screamed, but it was too late. We know what happens. He is now completely stuck.
I was panicked. I headed for the store quickly, all the time spitting on his tongue to warm it up while screaming for someone to bring warm water. Once we got in the store and got warm water, his tongue released. So what's the lesson here? First of all, all the better stores only use plastic carts now, and second, why the heck would the film research team not ensure they knew enough about cold weather to be a little more realistic? All they had to do was phone anyone over 2 north of the imaginary line they drew in the film.
The second obvious thing  no breath vapour. So I guess it wasn't really all that cold. And the snow really looked like that artificial plastic snow. They need to improve those flakes. If the flakes were really that big, they would be more moist and it would be warmer outside and the flakes would clump together. If it is that cold, the flakes are very tiny and hard and glimmer like diamonds and are powdery. Also, it doesn't snow when it gets that cold. And yes, the penicillin would have been frozen.
And the deep freeze chasing our Sam like something out of a Stephen King novel. Is this a horror flick or a catastrophe movie? And the door, yes the door would keep out this cold. Let me tell you something. Once, on Christmas eve, my furnace stopped working. It was cold out, about -30° with a really high wind chill. It was bad. Within an hour, my house cooled down to needing jackets. You felt it right away. If we had to go all night without a furnace, the results would not have been too good. So no, a door does not keep out -30° cold, much less the deep cold in the movie. It just breaks the wind. And by the way, the car needs to be plugged in to start in the morning at those temperatures using a block warmer which keeps the oil from freezing.
As for gas lines freezing, that is true. Once, in Minnesota in the dead of winter, my car's gas line froze while driving on the interstate. This is common, and there are additives especially for this kind of occurrence.
On to the plot. Why the wolves. What in the heck did they add? They were very poorly rendered  animals and people are difficult to render and easy to spot as CGI because of irregular weight distribution leading to odd movements. The wolves were laughable and stupid, and provided no addition to the plot line whatsoever? So what if they escaped? And then they bit the rich kid's leg, but then what? And why? And the whole septic shock thing with the girl so they would have a sequence on the boat. Really.
This movie could have been a great "what-if". But it failed and that is simply too bad. I could have seen it playing in schools to teach the effects of global warming. Required viewing for everyone. But the plot and technical failures simply ruined it.
I give it a 7 for special effects and the first hour or so, but it really is more on the level of a 5 if not for the good intentions behind this film.