The Thaw (2009)

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

A bit overrated, but still an amazing film

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

I'm so glad I didn't have to pay to watch this mess. It was "offered" as a free video on demand option, gee I wonder why... All but a couple of the characters have zero redeeming qualities. Clearly Val Kilmer did it for the paycheck. I'm a big supporter of the "suspension of disbelief" factor of movies, but they went way over the line. There is no way Bart would have been able to be lucid and just physically able to help anyone after having his arm cut off with a meat cleaver. And no way would Evelyn be able to shoot down a helicopter with that antiquated rifle. Federico (who thought up THAT name??) was a way too stereotypical douchey frat bro, and Atom (again, THAT name??) is just flaccid. Edward kind of reminded me of M. Night Shyamalan. The dialogue was painful to listen to, I had to fast forward to preserve my sanity.

It sounds like a thrilling movie that will be about the death of mankind brought on by some kind of monstrous weather disaster. Not quite; instead, it takes place in the arctic; as a research team discovers the carcass of a mammoth while on routine research. The movie promises a great deal with the foreshadowing, but sadly, after students are invited to join the research team – one of which is the head scientist's daughter – it goes downhill. Four students and one helicopter pilot head to the research station against the father's wishes and they slowly uncover what happens.As the DVD suggests, there are prehistoric insect-like creatures that thaw with the mammoth carcass; they are the main antagonist here and they have one purpose – find a host, burrow in, lay eggs, eat host – lather, rinse, repeat. This might work, except the scientists start turning on each other for no inexplicable reason. The students spent much of the movie yelling at each other while trying to remain in control, keep their cool and maintain composure – it doesn't work. Instead, they run around confused from one area of the base to the next trying to solve their dilemma and how they will deal with the possibility of being infected.I will point out two things about this movie – there is a cleaver scene involving someone losing their arm. Sometimes the best way to take care of a disease or to keep something from spreading is to lop off an arm. Kudos must be given for the fact the arm not only does not come off the first time around, but it is shown as would be expected – the first attempt leaves them horrified and it takes many more attempts before it comes off. The second thing I must point out is the lack of character development. The characters are clearly friendly towards each other in the beginning – but as tensions fly they care less about each other and more about saving their own hides. The scientist's daughter in particular strikes me as being loathsome in contrast to the other characters – in a strange twist she is the hero and sole survivor. This isn't to say that the insect-like creatures are wiped out, nor are they eradicated – the movie pulls a normal horror movie maneuver and has them in another part of the world already wreaking havoc.All this over global warming. An excellent movie worth watching; but be prepared to pause at least once or twice to deal with some of the more grizzly scenes – this movie isn't afraid to show some grotesque moments.Originally posted to Orion Age (http://www.orionphysics.com/? p=5110).

For me,they don't come much better than this. I particularly like Science- based and\or Sci-Fi Movies and the more contemporary the better.Like most enthusiasts of this genre, for me a good Science Movie has to have a believable premise - and,with perhaps a small stretch of the Imagination - this one fits the bill. Plenty of "scary-jumpy" moments,small twists and all sorts of things going on prevent us from getting bored The script Is exceptional and my only complaint Is that two or three of the actors - mentioning no names - just weren't right for the part,or - to put It another way - couldn't act their way out of a paper bag! Well worth seeing twice.

Val Kilmer again plays an environmental scientist (as he did in The Chaos Experiment) this time doing research in Canada. Apparently the glaciers are melting quickly. A polar bear he and his crew are tracking is found lunching on the brains of the corpse of a mammoth no less, that is surfacing thanks to the thawing.Later his crew is getting sick and crazy. He is filming some type of a confessional.Meanwhile some students are sent to study with him and his daughter goes along for the ride- even though he begs her not to go. When the kids arrive, no one is at the base camp except for the body of the bear. The kids spend the night but problems surface. The helicopter pilot is bitten by something, and so is one of the students- all over her body. Suddenly one of Kilmer's colleagues appears but she is ends up dying in a few minutes.The kids realize that there is some prehistoric bug that is infecting everyone. It went from the mammoth's brain to the bear to the crew and now to some of them. And from here things get annoying as the daughter takes charge of sorts since the males are as usual completely useless romantics. All sorts of fights ensue. The kids find Kilmer's research and tapes and discover that the helicopter has been disabled by someone and have to call for help. But they have to survive until help arrives.Suddenly Kilmer shows up...but he has different plans than the kids. The ending is neat. And actually the ideas behind it of radical ecologists perpetuating eco-bio-terror is very interesting. The problem is the annoying teenies. Had this movie been cast with adults, it could have been a striking movie. Instead we get the usual teen team led by some girlie who's of course much tougher than the guys- so much so that when a guy can't hack someone's arm off she rushes to grab the meat cleaver. Hollywood's warped political/social agenda is undermining their own artistic work. When will this annoying fad be over? Overall, the movie is well done, has good special effects, somewhat of an original story that is pretty interesting, but is more interested in furthering grlpower than its own aims.