THE FROZEN GROUND
Cert 15
105 mins
Contains very strong language, strong sex references, nudity and drug use
What did we need straight after a so-called Simon Pegg comedy? A gusty thriller, that's what.
And, as a bit of a Brucie bonus, Scott Walker's The Frozen Ground is a true story.
It surrounds a series of killings of young women around Anchorage, one of the most remote and coldest cities on earth.
Walker's film captures the combined beauty and danger of the Alaskan countryside and the underbelly of the state capital.
Set in the 1980s, it follows the investigation into the alleged abduction of prostitute Cindy Paulson (Vanessa Hudgens).
At first her complaints against respected local businessman Robert Hansen (John Cusack) fall on deaf ears but that is until detective Jack Halcombe (Nicolas Cage) gets involved.
Pieces then start to emerge which suggests that Paulson may not be the only victim.
Halcombe has to fight through the prejudices against Paulson and the fact that, because of her erratic lifestyle, she is seen as an unreliable witness.
Hudgens sheds the wholesome image she created in High School Musical to play a young woman on society's bottom rung.
She is convincingly gritty but it is interesting to note, however, that, despite nudity all around her, she doesn't go naked, even when thrusting herself on the podium of a pole-dancing club.
Cusack always makes the creepiest of villains and that is certainly the case here - his cunning also helps him stay a step ahead of the pursuing cops.
Meanwhile, I was, for once, pleased at Cage's movie selection.
He's been in so many bad ones over the last few years that I had virtually lost any faith in him.
Here he is determined in his pursuit of Hansen but compassionate in his handling of Paulson.
As suggested, The Frozen Ground is a superior thriller. If it is showing at a cinema near you, go see it.
Laughs: none
Jumps: none
Vomit: none
Nudity: yes..plenty but Vanessa Hudgens is not among those stripping off.. it seems she is leaving that sort of behaviour to leaked home movies.
Overall rating: 9/10