I just got back from the theatre - and mostly agree with
ash and
dsr.
Now we know why the film been in the can for so long - opening credits, "Supervising Editor, Stuart Baird". Baird is a seriously kickass action director - so presumably he was brought in to re-edit to try to improve the end product.
Given that my expectations were LOW, like dsr I was rather pleasantly surprised. The film's OK. But just OK. It's not the worst 100 minutes I've spent in a cinema by a long stretch.
I completely agree about the scenery and cinematography being stunning - it is. And for someone who isn't really a Kate Beckinsale fan, I thought she was fine, although her preternaturally undisturbed hair, er, disturbed me. The film is ALL about her. None of the other characters get much screen time and therefore little character development, which is a shame as Columbus Short, Gabriel Macht and Tom Skerritt were all good with what little they were given to do.
My biggest problem was the complete lack of tension. You've got Antartica; impending 6-month whiteout; bodies mounting; no-one know who to trust; HOW can you not build tension with all that? Somehow Dominic Sena manages it. It was pretty obvious, even by a process of elimination, who the culprits were:
And the thing they were all killing each other over was pretty cool - but still, ultimately, I didn't care half as much as I should have.
As for Alex, well, I'm a very happy girl purely because I finally got to see him on a big screen. He definitely has presence, but, like everyone else, really doesn't have much to do, although the corridor scene (from which the cap with the tats comes) is DIVINE. If you haven't been yet, keep watching him when the focus shifts to Carrie - he's leaning one arm up against the wall, wearing only a towel (but wearing it well
) and he just smirks in such a wonderful way I almost squeed. The only thing stopping me was that there were only 5 other people in the cinema and it would have been a little obvious. He does have a few other noteworthy scenes - including one really good fight scene (with another fantastic smirk
) so for me, it was worth it. (And it costs £8.50, which is about $13 to go see a movie here, so...).
Red
I was hoping the reviewers were being picky, but based on what you guys have said, I'm lowering my expectations. I'm going to leave in a few minutes to go see it anyway. Be back in a couple of hours.
You girls rock. 
