Below Zero

Sometimes when you're watching a foreign film you just know its only a matter of time before the US remake is announced. If this one hasn't been snapped up yet it's going to happen soon. There's a small cast you could easily populate with familiar character actors. It's set mostly in one location. It's easy to describe - "Like Assault On Precinct 13, but on wheels". It has an interesting plot line and a satisfying ending. Now if they do decide to remake it I can only hope they cut the twenty minutes out of the middle that threaten to kill it in it's tracks.

Martin (Javier Gutiérrez) is a Spanish cop with a new assignment. Along with workmate Montesinos (Isak Férriz) he's been tasked with driving a transport vehicle carrying 6 convicts between prisons. Martin's a respectful, by the books kinda guard but Montesinos enjoys the power trip side of his job. Before wheels have even spun violence is brewing and when the vehicle is assaulted on a dark lonely road a few miles into the journey by an unseen assailant it really kicks off. Now Martin finds himself in a dilemma. Stay inside with men who want his head or brave the outside and face sub zero temperatures and a bullet in his head.

This could have been great. Hand gnawing tension, an intriguing story, some blistering carnage and all spun around a cast of well drawn, well acted characters but like so many films of late it's far too long and it's sagging middle section almost derails everything after that great, suspense packed opening third. It's annoying because from the off the film has you on edge, the smell of danger in the air, unpredictable deaths, a terrifying predicament for literally everyone and then it starts to drag, adding silly plot contrivances that comes to nothing and that feel invented both to up the running time and add another couple of faces to the death toll. 

Then just when you are about to cave to disappointment and reach for your phone the film changes tact and gets interesting and exciting again, motivations become clearer and we get an ending that feels both satisfying and earned. You'll finish it feeling glad you stuck with it but exasperated as well, remembering the good ol' days of b-movies (Below Zero is definitely a B-movie) that were lean and well crafted, ones that didn't feel the need for extraneous padding. With it's visceral bouts of violence and it's masculine cast Below Zero feels like a throwback to 80's and 90's action but with the modern tendency of not knowing when to cut and snip.

That said it's a crunchy antidote to the anodyne feel of today's thrillers, it's not afraid to swirl the grays of morality and as it's showing on Netflix it introduces English speaking mainstream audiences to faces you'd otherwise miss like lead Javier Gutiérrez and Luis Callejo who does great work as prisoner Ramis, a man who's initially dangerous facade becomes something more complex as the story moves on.

Below Zero is streaming on Netflix now. It's an exciting but frustrating watch.