I found BEAR ISLAND listed in today's page of the TV guide so popped onto this page to find out if it was any good or not . Obviously I also read the plot summary which told me Nazi gold could be the key to the mystery so right away I realised Nazis wanted to their hands on some gold . I'm not criticising anyone for letting me know this because it's my own fault for reading plot summaries on this site
!!!!! YES THERE'S SPOILERS !!!!!
The problem is once you know Nazis are involved there's little mystery left as to who they are or their motives . Who are the Nazi agents ? I'm sort of guessing that it won't be Judith Rubin or Lechinski , not with their ethnic backgrounds . Lansing confesses later on that he was born in Germany but it's already established by this time that he's one of the good guys so it's not him and when someone says " I wish people would obey orders " it's just too obvious that they're a Nazi which doesn't leave much room for anymore red herrings . It should be pointed out for those of a pedantic nature that it's Neo-Nazis who are the bad guys
The plot would have worked far better as a TEN LITTLE INDIANS type story but for some reason the movie plays out like a James Bond action thriller . I've not read the source novel but the narrative is totally ridiculous as we're treated to a fast paced action set piece every five minutes and apart from being silly they're often unnecessary to like the old geezer commandeering a helicopter to save the drowning hero ten minutes into the film . It also leaves massive plot holes like why do the hero and heroine make their way to the harbour on the slow moving snow mobiles when there's a couple of bigger , faster more powerful snow mobiles that they could have used ? That's so the Nazis can escape and pursue them on the journey and this lack of thinking on the part of the producers condemns this movie as a below par thriller
!!!!! YES THERE'S SPOILERS !!!!!
The problem is once you know Nazis are involved there's little mystery left as to who they are or their motives . Who are the Nazi agents ? I'm sort of guessing that it won't be Judith Rubin or Lechinski , not with their ethnic backgrounds . Lansing confesses later on that he was born in Germany but it's already established by this time that he's one of the good guys so it's not him and when someone says " I wish people would obey orders " it's just too obvious that they're a Nazi which doesn't leave much room for anymore red herrings . It should be pointed out for those of a pedantic nature that it's Neo-Nazis who are the bad guys
The plot would have worked far better as a TEN LITTLE INDIANS type story but for some reason the movie plays out like a James Bond action thriller . I've not read the source novel but the narrative is totally ridiculous as we're treated to a fast paced action set piece every five minutes and apart from being silly they're often unnecessary to like the old geezer commandeering a helicopter to save the drowning hero ten minutes into the film . It also leaves massive plot holes like why do the hero and heroine make their way to the harbour on the slow moving snow mobiles when there's a couple of bigger , faster more powerful snow mobiles that they could have used ? That's so the Nazis can escape and pursue them on the journey and this lack of thinking on the part of the producers condemns this movie as a below par thriller