Polar (film)

Polar (film)
Polar is a 2019 neo-noir action thriller film directed by Jonas Åkerlund and written by Jayson Rothwell, based on Víctor Santos's 2013 graphic novel Polar: Came From the Cold. The film stars Mads Mikkelsen, Vanessa Hudgens, Katheryn Winnick, and Matt Lucas. It revolves around an aging assassin on the verge of retirement who becomes targeted by an employer wanting to cash in on his pension.
Polar was released worldwide on Netflix on January 25, 2019. The film received negative reviews from critics.
Plot
In Chile, Michael Green, a retired former employee of assassin organization Damocles, is killed by a specialist hit squad consisting of decoy Sindy, sniper Facundo, and an assault team of Alexei, Karl, and Hilde, all of whom are also Damocles employees.
Duncan Vizla, also known as The Black Kaiser, is a Damocles employee nearing mandatory retirement on his 50th birthday. By making sizable contributions to his company retirement fund, he is owed over $8 million when he retires. Duncan is pressured into accepting one final contract by Vivian, a common associate of Damocles.
He travels to Belarus to fulfill the mission, but finds it was a setup to have him killed. Unknown to him, Mr. Blut, owner of Damocles, plans to sell the company and is inflating its value by murdering its retired operatives, receiving their retirement benefits by way of a clause in their contract that lists Damocles as a benefactor.
Duncan, living in a remote Montana town, is continuously haunted by flashbacks of his violent past. He slowly begins to build a friendship with his troubled new neighbor, Camille. One day, after giving an ill-fated talk at a local school about foreign countries and combat, he gives Camille a gun as a gift. While trying to teach her how to shoot, she breaks down, seemingly disturbed by the weapon.
Meanwhile, Facundo's squad works to locate Duncan's residence. While beating his accountant, Lomas, they receive a list of his current property holdings. They work through the list without any success, killing the various residents of each property. They are finally able to track Duncan's location through recurring donation receipts to a Montana bank.
While coming home from stopping at the nearby town, Duncan finds Sindy broken down on the side of the road. The pair return to his house, where they end up having sex. While having sex on the bed, the kill squad engages. Duncan outmatches and kills all of the would-be assassins except for Alexei, who activates "Plan B.".
Duncan learns from Alexei's girlfriend, Junkie Jane, who, while high on heroin, tells him that "Plan B" was to kidnap Camille. Duncan seeks the help of his old friend Porter, who instead betrays and drugs him, giving him to Blut.
Duncan awakens in Blut's mansion, chained to the ceiling. He is tortured for three days by Blut for killing Hilde, whom Blut was in a relationship with. At the same time, Camille is kept in a heroin-induced, incoherent state by Junkie Jane.
On the third day of torture, Blut breaks off the blade of his favorite knife on metal fragments inside Duncan's body. In anger, Blut stabs Duncan in the left eye. Overnight, Duncan uses the broken blade to pick the locks on his shackles and, by morning, escapes the mansion, killing many of Blut's henchmen. He travels to see Jazmin, an old friend, who treats his wounds and supplies him with weapons.
Duncan calls Vivian and offers himself in exchange for Camille. She accepts, but on Blut's orders, she double-crosses him and arrives with Alexei and more of Blut's henchmen. Duncan gives Vivian a chance to walk away, but she refuses, and he uses remote-controlled machine guns to kill the entire force, leaving only a critically wounded Vivian.
Duncan returns to Blut's mansion, where the few remaining henchmen flee rather than face Duncan. Blut awaits Duncan, now alone, but is decapitated while calling for someone to bring him Camille. Duncan rescues Camille and returns to Montana, where he treats her inside her cabin.
Duncan awakens one morning inside Camille's cabin to find newspaper clippings of the murder of a family spread around Camille's bed. He recognizes the images as a hit that he carried out, albeit with bad intel, something that has haunted him ever since. The only survivor of the family was a young daughter, who grew up to be Camille.
To assuage his guilty conscience he has been making anonymous donations to her ever since, and she tracked him down by following the money trail. Held at gunpoint by Camille, Duncan apologizes and tells her to close her mind and pull the trigger. However, she spares him, asking if they can determine who ordered her father dead, and he commits to helping her.
Cast
Production
The film was first announced in October 2014 as a live action adaptation of Dark Horse Comics' Polar, developed by Dark Horse Entertainment and Constantin Film. A spec script for the film by Jayson Rothwell was purchased. In October 2017, Mads Mikkelsen signed on to star in the film. In February 2018, Vanessa Hudgens, Katheryn Winnick and Matt Lucas joined the cast with Netflix onboard to distribute the film.
Filming began early February 2018 in Orono, Ontario, Canada, and continued around February 23 in Toronto, Ontario, with Swedish director Jonas Åkerlund at the helm. Among various filming locations used was the residence of musician Deadmau5, for the opening scene.
In September 2018, Deadmau5 announced that he was in the process of producing the film's original score.
Netflix started streaming the film on January 25, 2019, with Deadmau5 releasing the soundtrack on the same day.
Soundtrack
The film's soundtrack album was released by Deadmau5 on January 25, 2019, through his record label Mau5trap. The soundtrack's release details were announced on January 8, 2019, along with the film's initial trailer. A single from the soundtrack album, "Midas Heel" was released on January 11, 2019, followed by the vocal version called "Drama Free" featuring Lights which was previously released on Mau5ville: Level 2. Several tracks of the score (such as "Somb", "Wilhelm" and "End") feature elements from Deadmau5's previous tracks from his seventh studio album While(1<2), as well as two new tracks named "Nosedive" and "Camilla", the former being a remake of his unreleased track "Rio", the latter being known previously as "Suite 02".
Reception
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 18% based on 50 reviews, with an average of . The website's critical consensus reads, "An action thriller starring Mads Mikkelsen as the world's most dangerous assassin should be terrifically entertaining, but Polar proves it's possible to ruin anything if you try." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 19 out of 100, based on reviews from 12 critics, indicating "overwhelming dislike".
Accolades
Future
In May 2022, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed Åkerlund will direct another film adaptation with the title of The Black Kaiser. This film will be a new take of the comics and will be neither be "a sequel or a prequel". Mikkelsen is set to reprise his role as Duncan Vizla as well as assisting Rothwell with the writing.
One year later, Variety reported that Derrick Borte had replaced Åkerlund as director and Vanessa Hudgens was cast. Filming is set to commence in Fall 2023.
References
External links
2019 films
2019 action thriller films
Constantin Film films
Dark Horse Entertainment films
Films based on Dark Horse Comics
Films based on webcomics
Films directed by Jonas Åkerlund
Films set in 2019
Films set in Austin, Texas
Films set in Detroit
Films set in Minsk
Films set in Chile
Films set in Montana
Films set in Miami
Films set in New Jersey
Films set in Seattle
Live-action films based on comics
English-language Netflix original films
English-language German films
American neo-noir films
American action thriller films
2010s English-language films
2010s American films