Deriving nail-biting chills from its minimal setup, Frozen (2010) is tense, thrilling & even terrifying when it gets all the elements right yet the film fails to cement its place amongst the first-rate examples of its genre due to shortcomings in the script as it required a tighter narrative to keep us on the edge of our seats & more fleshed out characters to make us care.
Frozen concerns a trio of young adults spending a weekend at a ski resort who find themselves in a perilous situation after getting stranded on the chairlift far above the ground. With the resort shut down for a week and a storm moving in, they are forced to take desperate measures that prove more dangerous than staying put & freezing to death.
Written & directed by Adam Green, the film attempts to acquaint us with the trio within the first act but all three of them & their interactions are so poorly written that they never earn our investment. What actually garners our interest instead is the predicament they later find themselves in, and Green does an excellent job at escalating the tension & amplifying the suspense from that moment onwards.
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It certainly would’ve helped to have more realized characters on the chairlift than the cardboard cutouts that Green decides to go ahead with. Nevertheless, the film is gripping whenever it exploits the trio’s perils and effectively employs piercing camerawork, sharp editing & intense music during those moments to up the ante. But there are voids in between that disrupt its momentum and affect the overall flow.
Despite our lack of investment in the one-dimensional trio, the tension is palpable & unrelenting but only because the entire scenario is both relatable & believable to an extent. The cold color tones are aptly utilized, its 93 mins runtime feels a tad stretched, and performances from the trio is serviceable at best. The actors aren’t even remotely intriguing. However, their chemistry does work out in the film’s favor.
On an overall scale, Frozen (2010) is a competently crafted chiller that comes equipped with all the necessary resources to deliver a nerve-wracking & bone-chilling ride that isn’t for the easily distressed. All it really needed to nail the brief & catapult itself to a higher league was a taut structure & more evolved set of characters. While there are things it could’ve executed better, what it has in store will still manage to engage, thrill & appease many viewers. Go for it.
★★★
Frozen (2010) Trailer
Frozen (2010) Links – IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes
