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Ice Harvest (The)
R1 - America - Universal Pictures Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak and Tom Williams (26th March 2006). |
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The Film
 The Ice Harvest is a movie attempting to fill the same sort of function as films like Fargo (1996), or Get Shorty (1995) - caper movies filled with the sort of dark humour we get from real life. Unfortunately, while some of The Ice Harvest’s elements are deeply satisfying, too much of it barely provokes any sort of reaction at all. The Ice Harvest follows Charlie (John Cusack), a mob lawyer, as he attempts to rip off his employer to the tune of two million dollars. All he and his partner Vic (Billy Bob Thornton) need to do is leave the morning after to complete their theft, but sadly, Charlie is one of the least capable conspirators we’ve ever seen, maintaining a high profile by letting his generosity get away with him by looking after the strippers at the local club as well as his very drunk and vocal best friend, Pete (Oliver Platt), who recently married Charlie’s ex-wife. Charlie also has one last try at bedding Renata (Connie Neilson), who runs the local strip joint- and this is not only before he figures out that there’s a strongman hired by his mob boss to track him down, and that his partner may not be totally trustworthy, but also after. In fact, if there’s one major flaw that leaps out at you in the first few moments of the film, it’s that neither Vic nor Charlie seem to consider haste as a possible tool for their repertoire. Rather than leave town immediately, they stay in order to avoid the ice on the roads- which goes right past unlikely and arrives safely in the greater region of dumb. It’s hard to know exactly where to place the responsibility for the film’s inadequacies. Certainly the actors all fulfil their roles appropriately. In the case of Thornton, this involves walking through his part with ease, while Neilson does a good job at performing in a totally different film than her co-stars- by which I don’t impugn her acting ability, but rather question her role in the film. She absolutely maintains the film noir role of a femme fatale- but this isn’t a noir film, so compared to the other characters, the fact that she has ulterior motives is as obvious as that she has legs. Platt is one of the most enjoyable parts of the film, though this may be because he spends almost all his screen time blind drunk. His character is at least interesting enough to raise a smile, and even a chuckle or two. Finally, John Cusack is on screen for practically the whole film, is adequate but again let down by the difficulty of reconciling his character with the actual content of the film. It’s not until the end, where a minor (and reasonably amusing) character says Charlie’s one of the nicest guys he’s ever met that we figure out what’s happened- Charlie isn’t supposed to be in this film at all. Earlier, Charlie alludes to his father briefly in an anecdote he tells to explain his slightly nihilistic attitude, and drops into the conversation that his father wanted him to be a lawyer. Charlie wouldn’t have become a lawyer without this pressure, and hence wouldn’t have worked for the mob, etc. etc. His constant slugs from the hipflask at his side as the film progresses are the only way he can reconcile with the fact he’s stolen from his employer- yet he doesn’t seem to need much strength as he stumbles through various grisly scenes in the film. Whether this is sloppy filmmaking or an attempt to suggest he’s stronger than we- or he- might think isn’t clear. Fundamentally, this film is watch able, but there’s no real sense of accomplishment, worth, or even really pleasure in getting to the end of it. If you’re an avid film watcher, or a big-league John Cusack fan, it’s more than bearable- but not much more. On the other hand, watching Platt steal the show is deeply satisfying.
Video
Presented in the film’s original theatrical ratio of 1.85:1, this anamorphic widescreen image is very good, in fact it’s great. The image is sharp; colors are well balanced including skin tones. Blacks are deep and detail is visible in shadows. I could not spot any major flaws such as edge enhancement or compression artefacts, for a recent film you’d expect the most and the most is what we have here. Thanks Universal for this pretty transfer that garners no complaints.
Audio
Two audio tracks are included one in English Dolby Digital 5.1 and the other in French Dolby Digital 5.1. For the purposes of the review I chose to view the film with its English soundtrack. While the dialogue is always clear and distortion free I never once really felt like I was watching a film with a 5.1 track. It seems all these channels are largely going to waste as there was no sense of immersion. Occasional direction effects would pop up, as does the music but that’s really it. As for subtle atmospheric surrounds goes all we really got was wind constantly reminding the viewer that the film’s setting is a winter one. Optional subtitles are also included in English for the hard of hearing, French and Spanish.
Extras
A feature-length audio commentary from director Harold Ramis is included. Ramis does a good job of discussing the movie, although it’s hard to see why he couldn’t have been given backup from his incredibly talented leading men. Having Thornton or Cusack there for the ride could only have made things better- or even letting Platt loose on the film might have made for more interesting fare. Again, although it could be much better, it could have been much, much worse. Next up are two alternate endings, the first runs for 4 minutes 47 seconds and the second runs for 5 minutes 43 seconds. These alternate endings are interesting to see (although I believe they’re too long, showing the same 5minute lead-up each time), particularly if, like me, you find it hard to pick which is the best. These are followed by an outtake with Billy Bob Thornton, which runs for 1 minute 32 seconds and features Thornton impersonating Karl from Sling Blade (1996) which is fun too. There are also three featurettes that include: - "Cracking The Story" which runs for 17 minutes 4 seconds. This first featurette is somewhat interesting, especially if the general mechanics of writing a screenplay seem worth exploring. It takes a little while to get going, as the writers get over telling us how much they enjoyed the book, but isn’t too shabby nonetheless. - "Beneath The Harvest" runs for 13 minutes 6 seconds. Unfortunately the same can’t be said for the second, which is really just a filler promotional piece, going over a plot description and explaining concepts like film noir. - "Ice Cracking: Analysis Of A Scene" runs for 6 minutes 18 seconds. This final featurette stands up rather better, as the scene in question is fairly well crafted, but it’s certainly a clip you’d watch after the film, as it’s full of plot points. Rounding out the extras are a collection of start-up bonus trailers that play before the menu, these can be skipped by pressing the Menu button on your remote. The previews included are: - Jarhead which runs for 36 seconds. - My Name is earl promo spot that runs for 30 seconds. - First Descent that runs for 1 minute 2 seconds. - Brick that runs for 2 minutes 26 seconds.
Overall
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