The Frozen Ground (2013)

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

It is an interesting commentary on the subject of crime and the treatment of victims. I hope many take the time to see this film.

Miss Hudgens should have won an award. Simply outstanding performance. Mr. Cusack, as always, delivers a 10. Mr. Cage, while not always at the top of his game, nails his part in this movie. Great script and terrific directing. It's nice to see a true story treated as it should be.

Now, I can't really claim to be much of a fan of Nicolas Cage, especially since his movies have an overwhelming tendency to be overly generic and come a dime a dozen. However, it was because of the synopsis and because of John Cusack that I decided to purchase this movie with the intend to watch it.And now having had the chance to sit down and watch it, I must say that I am actually genuinely surprised with the outcome of the movie. Not so much on John Cusack's deliverance, but because Nicolas Cage was actually fair in this movie, and he proved his worth opposite John Cusack. But to be blunt, then it was John Cusack who carried the movie and stood out in "The Frozen Ground".The story, which is based on real events, takes place in Alaska, where young women fall target and victim to a heinous abductor and serial killer.Nicolas Cage did a good enough job with his role as an officer of the law. But especially John Cusack was shining in this movie, in the role of the serial killer. There was just something deviant and cruel about his performance and portrayal of the Robert Hansen character. Vanessa Hudgens also did a good job with her acting and really did bring something to the movie."The Frozen Ground" turned out to be an enjoyable movie which, albeit following a straight forward script, did offer some good moments. And the characters in the movie seemed to be well-detailed and equally well brought to life on the screen by the acting talents.I am rating "The Frozen Ground" a solid six out of ten stars, and it is a movie that is well worth watching if you need some fair entertainment for a single viewing. The movie, however, doesn't really sustain more than a single viewing; you watch it once, then bag and tag it.

***SPOILERS**** Director Scott Walker purposely filmed the movie "On Frozen Ground" at the end of fall and into early winter season in Alaska just to get the feel of the upcoming darkness that we see during the entire length on the movie. With the daylight at little as possible that makes the film much more gloomy then the actual and real story that took place for some 12 years-from 1971 to 1983-that its about. What the film is about is a Ted Bundy like killer who targeted women as if they were wild game kidnapping raping and then flying, in his private plane, them out into the woods and letting them loose for him to hunt down and kill them.There's no secret to who the killer is upstanding citizen husband & father Robert Hansen,John Cusack, who's got this thing about women that he has to act out in killing them. That's because of an unfortunate experience he had in his youth when he was soundly rejected, in trying to make out, by them. Masking his violent hatred of the opposite sex Hansen went as far as getting married to look normal as a loving and bible thumping family man married with two children but use that as a front to hide what he's really all about. It's Alasken state trooper Jack Halcombe, Nicolas Cage, who connects the dotes in a number of murders that were committed over the last 12 years to finally track Hansen down.***SPOILERS*** The key piece of the puzzle to Hansen's killing spree is 17 year old runaway prostitute Cindy Paulson, Vanessa Hudgens, who was kidnapped by Hansen but escaped to tell about it as well as identify him. With no help at all from the local Anchorage Alasken police Halcombe went out on his own to not only track down Hansen, whom he knew were he was, but uncover the evidence that could convict him. This has Hansen go for broke in trying to find and murder Cindy to keep her mouth shut. Going so far as getting Cindy's pimp Clate Johnson, 50 Cent, whom he later had murdered to turn her over to him for special treatment. It was in losing his cool it's Hansen who under relentless interrogation by Halcombe who finally cracked and admitted his guilt just after Cindy was brought into the interrogation room to identify him as her kidnapper. Given a 461 year sentence behind bars with no chance of parole Hansen passed away in prison in 2014-a year after "On Frozen Ground" was released-after serving only 31 years of the 461 years time he was given by the court.