Polar

When it comes to Netflix and their movies I think it can be said that less is more. For every Roma they put out, there's heaps and heaps of movies like Polar to follow. This movie is, at best, a B level John Wick and that's being super generous. Then again I guess the saying "shooters shoot" exists for a reason...and Netflix was certainly throwing up a half court prayer with this one.

Polar tells the story of hitman on the verge of retirement being forced to fight for his life and freedom. Mads Mikkelsen (Hannibal) plays our future retiree, Duncan Vizla, who is world renowned for his assassination skills as The Black Kaiser. Vizla is being hunted by his former boss in hopes of killing him and claiming his pension. The Black Kaiser goes into hiding in a snowy little town and meets his fragile and skittish neighbor played by Vanessa Hudgens (High School Musical). When Vizla finally agrees to one last job, he discovers that he is the target of an assassination, and returns to his hideout to fade away into retirement. While he is settling into a nice a quiet life, Vizla begins to become closer with his neighbor and plays an odd father figure/romantic part in her life. We can see that both of these characters are haunted by events from their past, and they bond over their pain. The assassination team hunting Vizla eventually discovers where he is hiding and makes an attempt on his life. Vizla is able to fight off and kill the hit team, but discovers that his neighbor has been kidnapped. After being betrayed and drugged by a former ally, Vizla finds himself being tortured by his former boss. The Black Kaiser is able to break free of his shackles and fights his way to his former boss. After killing the assassination firm leader, Duncan saves his neighbor, and nurses her back to health. In an actually well done plot twist, we find out that Vizla had actually killed his neighbor's entire family in a hit, the same hit that has haunted him all these years. The two end up coming to an agreement that the real evil is the firm, and begin working together as Polar comes to a close.

This movie was a mess for so many reasons, but my biggest take away was that it was just gross. Some unnecessarily graphic killings combined with the grossest character these eyes have seen in a long time in the former boss, make for a sickening movie. The dialogue was cringey and really didn't work in so many parts of this movie. On top of all this, the movie is just too long. A bad movie should not be two minutes shy of two hours and feel like an eternity. I'd say skip this one and catch the very cool action sequences on youtube...or just watch the better version of it in John Wick, John Wick: Chapter 2, or Chapter 3 when it comes out in May.

Rating: 21

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Mike