Linbeymusol
Wonderful character development!
Colibel
Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.
Chirphymium
It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional
Mandeep Tyson
The acting in this movie is really good.
merklekranz
Cinematography of the Alaska wilderness is a real plus, and a couple scenes standout, but for the most part "Arctic Blue" is a mess. Rutger Hauer is never going to advance his "B" movie career with these types of roles. Here he is nothing but a cardboard character, almost blending into the snowy landscape. The script is never believable, and there appear to be parts cut out that would have helped connect the dots. The ending seems to be sending some type of ecological message, but it is meaningless with the nonsense that precedes it. The two things that I will remember about "Arctic Blue" are the above summary "grapefruit" quote, and a flying pickax. Other than that the film is very forgettable. - MERK
rixrex
Anything with Rutger Hauer is better than average thanks to his presence, and no exception here. In this one he's the bad guy, but good guy, character, meaning the misunderstood individualist. However, this aspect of the story is left unexplored. Hauer's a trapper in Alaska with a gang of moronic sidekicks who stumble upon a group of hunters and threaten to take some of their pelts. Hauer kills, with a thrown knife, one of the hunters who draws a gun, then his gang leave the others in the wild after destroying their truck motor, and of course the hunters die from exposure. So the local lawman is determined to get Hauer. In a situation where self defense could have been shown, the trappers let matters get way out of hand, then are determined to free Hauer from the grips of the law. During the escapades of getting Hauer to jail in Fairbanks, Hauer protests that he is only a misunderstood individual who's one with the wilderness. And the young man who takes the duty to deliver Hauer is conflicted about doing this. It seems that there were plot elements cut out because it would have been much more believable if Hauer had told his side of the killing to the lawman, which he never did. No explanation and no remorse just make him a bad character and it's tough to see why the lawman feels sympathy towards him. There's a whole subplot about evil oil company dealings that is unexplored and tough to figure out, and that's more of what was probably cut out, and somehow Hauer is involved against the oil company but that's also a missing plot piece. The producers needed to have had somebody with fresh eyes look at the film before they cut out certain plot developments that left the story less coherent than it should have been. Still it's above average and if you can fill in the holes yourself as I did, it will be a fine evening of viewing, and there's some really beautiful scenery.
folthy
There are so many holes and incongruities in this movie, I was considering hiring a private investigator to find the plot. One minute the hero and his prisoner (Rutger Hauer) are snowed in with wolves baying, the next minute they are basking in sunshine near a clear, crystal stream. Combine this with bodies being inexplicably hung in trees, shot bad guys suddenly recovering to their joke cracking best, Rutger athletically striding through the snow 5 minutes after being savagely stabbed in the leg and the apparent disinterest of the police in a trail of corpses littering the Arctic landscape and you have the most poorly directed, written and acted pieces of cinematic effluent ever to have polluted my TV set. I know what Elvis would have done to his TV set if he had ever watched this.
ditka-2
One of the finest cinematic pieces I've seen in quite some time. I enjoyed the many scenes involving running and snow. Mr. Hauer is one of the most gifted actors of our time, if not ever. Please rent this one as soon as possible.