User Reviews

Great cinema photography and setting. I love those cold shots of northern Norway. The acting is solid (from my English speaking perspective) But it does get a little ridiculous as to how many things go wrong for the characters.. I'm still not sure why she had so much trouble with the car... or certain furry characters figure so prominently yet don't seem to add anything to the plot. Symbolism perhaps?

At any rate the movie does a good job turning up the tension from scene to scene. It might actually make you feel stressed if you can get around some of the absurd character behaviour that make you want to scream at your TV.

... also stop leaving 1 star reviews without any details! It's stupid to rate something 1 star just because you don't like a character or part of the plot. It's not a 1 star movie but it's not a 10 either that's for sure.

I'd rate this higher, as the scenery is beautiful and I'm always up for a single-setting survival style movie... but HFS the trunk thing was just absurd, and rather than continuing to look for the button to open it, she went to a house down the road for a crowbar.

Everything about the movie was good except the story. The story made the main character so stupid that every few minutes you ask yourself what the hell is going on. Then why kill a dog? Why stop to help someone with a flat tyre when help was on the way if only to show the reason for the jack to be left behind. Pathetic.

I was drawn to this film for two reasons. I enjoy films about diving, and also films that are based in the arctic ir something of that nature.

The film gets props for being realistic. The diving was very well done, and everything was done as it should be.

It's quite unfortunate that the younger, more experienced, and smarter sister is the one that gets trapped. Our main protagonist is painfully unintelligent. Like how can you not just find the trunk release button in the driver seat, guaranteed there is one, I looked it up for Volvo's. Then, she kills a dog inside its own house. How can you cheer for someone like that? Afterwards, she leaves a note for the people who live there asking for help. If you broke in to my house and killed my dog, you better not tell me where to find you. Help is what you'lI need when I get there. I was really hoping she would just die and the trapped sister would survive.

So yes, that's what really drags this film down. Otherwise, it's actually well made.

It's hard to write a review like this, it's a small, swedish film that needs all the support it can get, yet I can't rate it higher than 4 out of 10. Why? Well, first of, to me this was a 40-60 minutes long film, stretched out to barely 90 minutes. Keep it in the water the whole film through instead. I also guess my hopes were too high because of tag lines on the poster, calling it "the best swedish thriller" and other sentences with "Best" in it.

The thing is, all the technical stuff is great, the cinematography, the sound, the music, the scenery, it was a very easy film to follow and not shaky cam or something like that, it felt like I was watching a Hollywood film at some scenes.

What drags it all down is the story. We get some flashbacks to the main characters lives as kids, some look at their daily lives with one working as a repairman/diver and the other one having a difficult relationship with her husband, none of it really matter to the story. Then there's arguing among one of the sisters and their mom, feeding their dog cigarettes (wtf?) and then for some funny reason, a stranger on the road having a flat tire that one of the sisters decides to help, even if the owner of the car already called for help. Why? To show the jack-screw that lifts the car, it will obviously have an important role later in the film... but then again, no, it doesn't. An important thing when I watch a film is that I can somehow relate to the characters or if nothing else, get some kind of reward throughout the film, something that makes me like it, but as the film went on, I just didn't care if anyone lived or died, there wasn't really any reason for why I wanted them to live - one of them have kids, the other one going travel to the Philippines next week, not enough reason for me to care. At least make the main character smart, or even smarter than the viewer, that way I can actually cheer more for her - instead I was just rolling my eyes over every new mistake she made that lead to nowhere. It's noot until the end that she does something smart, but by then I had already stopped to care.

I think another thing that would've made the film more real, would be if the main character didn't talk as much, most of the things she said was obvious and already known by the viewers without having it told to them. It just made her sound more stupid. Just look at All Is Lost (2013) another thriller about a single person in a dire situation, barely no words are said during that film and it's not any side stories or flashbacks in it. I'm sure the two lead actors are great at their jobs, but with the wrong screenplay or direction, it's just another forgettable film among others.

Oh, and then there's the dog that gets killed, was that even necessary? It would've been enough with her being bitten and barely escaping the house, but to kill the dog and leave a message? There just wasn't any reward with the house-scene. At least she could've found a jack-screw or something else to try and save her sister, instead of destroying their car any more. It just made me dislike the main character even more.

How can anyone be this dumb? If I go out to dive in the middle of nowhere in the freaking ice cold sea, I would look for a partner who is at least with more than an IQ of 50. Like come on. She could not find the lever to open the trunk of the car? Has she driven a car in her life? And then she walks like a mile to find a house - in the middle of nowhere, mind you - and then she breaks in because there's no one answering the door. And then, get this: she kills the dog that was inside. Kills it. With a knife. I could not watch any further than that.

Every decision made by that character is stupid. There's no way anyone can justify any of her actions. I would think that any diver even remotely familiar with professionalism would not be this stupid.

I found myself very invested in the characters and the seemingly hopeless situation they found themselves in this film. The acting was great, the direction superb, the music evocative. If I have any complaints, it that the main character seemed irritatingly stupid sometimes and did not move with a much alacrity one might expect given the time sensitivity at hand. Also, I'm no diving expert, but I don't think anyone would have survived after the number of dives and ascents she made without safety stops. But still, a solid survival thriller.

The relationship between the two sisters could have been more rich, I think. They never discussed the near-fatal dive that occurred when they were young, even though the incident definitely defined the relationship between they two and their mother. I don't know...I thought they should have discussed it more. But it might just me me.

Why dident she fell the seat so she could get to the back?! Instead she walked 1km to get to a random house and kills a dog on the way! (wtf)

10 minutes in and I'd had enough of the unrealistic and childish script.

Making us believe that you could survive a ships propeller turning on, while your there to unravel a tangled web of nets & ropes, first dumb move.

And while she is down there she makes a comment over the radio, that it is very cold & she should have worn double thermal wear under her wet suit.

When she surfaces, the weather looks quite warm wherever it is?

When she angrily steps into the ships navigational cabin, the crew, tell her that it was no-ones fault and that's the end of it.

I mean really, in reality she would of sued the ships company for all they were worth.

When she arrives in Norway on the other hand, it is Arctic winter and then her and the mother go for a swim in their bathing suits?

And then later she is outside with her sister smoking a cigarette & states that if mother finds out, I will get in trouble, so feeds it to the family dog. Then states that this is the second dog she has done this to.

Well, that was enough for this viewer to not bother watching on.