Polar (film)

Polar is a 2019 neo-noir action thriller film based on the 2012 webcomic of the same name. Directed by Jonas Åkerlund, the film stars Mads Mikkelsen, Vanessa Hudgens, Katheryn Winnick and Matt Lucas. It revolves around an aging assassin on the verge of retirement, who himself becomes targeted by his employer willing to cash in on his pension.

Polar
Promotional poster
Directed byJonas Åkerlund
Produced by
  • Robert Kulzer
  • Mike Richardson
  • Keith Goldberg
  • Jeremy Bolt
  • Hartley Gorenstein
Written byJayson Rothwell
Based on
Starring
Music byDeadmau5
CinematographyPär M. Ekberg
Edited byDoobie White
Production
company
Distributed byNetflix
Release date
  • January 25, 2019 (2019-01-25)
Running time
119 minutes
Country
  • United States
  • Germany
  • Canada
LanguageEnglish

The film was released on January 25, 2019, streaming on Netflix as an original.[1]

Plot

Duncan Vizla, aka "the Black Kaiser", is an assassin working for a company named Damocles. In 14 days, upon reaching mandatory retirement on his 50th birthday, Duncan is set to receive half his pension, amounting to $8 million. Mr. Blut, Damocles’ owner, intends to sell Damocles and is having all assassins approaching retirement killed by other Damocles operators, thus retaining their pension funds and inflating the company's value. Additionally, a Damocles contract clause stipulates that, should employees die without a will or named beneficiary, the company assumes all their assets. Duncan is the latest operative to be hunted down. Blut sends a team of assassins to hunt down Duncan who's starting to get closer to his neighbor Camille. The team raids all of Duncan's residences and kill the people staying there, but to no avail. One day, as Duncan purchases a gift for Camille, he is spotted and the assassins trap him with the help of their member Sindy. Believing her car has actually broken down, Duncan gives her a ride and takes her to his home where they engage in sexual activity as a part of the team's plan. However, as the sniper tries to take the shot, Sindy gets shot and Duncan kills her upon learning of her betrayal. He eliminates the entire team by himself and goes to their motel, where a drugged member reveals the team went to capture Camille. Returning home, Duncan finds her missing and goes to meet his friend at a bar in order to find out why is wanted dead. Duncan is betrayed, tranquilized and captured by Blut who physically tortures him for 3 days and half-blinds him while drugging and assaulting Camille at the same time.

On the fourth day, Duncan manages to free himself and eliminates Blut's entire gang by himself. He contacts Blut's assistant Vivian to make a deal: his life for Camille's. He is healed by a friend who supplies him guns to deal with Blut's army. Through a phone call, Duncan is traced by Vivian and her team. Duncan gives her a chance to walk away, but she doesn't. Using machine guns armed with lasers, he eliminates the entire team while leaving Vivian for dead. As he goes to kill Blut, the terrified henchmen walk away. He beheads Blut and rescues Camille, keeping her at his house and taking care of her. Later, he wakes up to find clippings of a murder on the bed where Camille was sleeping, and finds himself held on gunpoint by her. It is then revealed he killed her family but left her alive as a child, because he received wrong information. As Camille grew up, he redeemed himself by looking after her and financing her education secretly. As Camille is unable to let go of the pain, Duncan tells her to close her eyes and pull the trigger. The bullet is fired, but it's soon revealed Camille didn't shoot him and instead joins him to find out who ordered the hit on her father.

Cast

Production

The film was first announced in October 2014 as a live action adaptation of Dark Horse Comics' Polar, developed by Dark Horse Entertainment and Constantin Film. A spec script for the film by Jayson Rothwell was purchased.[3] In October 2017, Mads Mikkelsen signed on to star in the film.[4] In February 2018, Vanessa Hudgens, Katheryn Winnick and Matt Lucas joined the cast with Netflix onboard to distribute the film.[5]

Filming began early February 2018 in Orono, Ontario, Canada,[6] and continued around February 23 in Toronto, Ontario, with noted Swedish director Jonas Åkerlund at the helm.[7]

In September 2018, musician Deadmau5 announced that he was in the process of producing the film's original score.[8]

Netflix started streaming the film on January 25, 2019, with Deadmau5 releasing the soundtrack on the same day.[9]

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack album was released by Deadmau5 on January 25, 2019, through his record label Mau5trap.[10] The soundtrack's release details were announced on January 8, 2019, along with the film's initial trailer. A single from the soundtrack album, "Midas Heel" was released on January 11, 2019, followed by the vocal version called "Drama Free" featuring Lights which was previously released on Mau5ville: Level 2.[11] Several tracks of the score (such as "Somb", "Wilhelm" and "End") feature elements from Deadmau5's previous tracks from his seventh studio album While(1<2), as well as two new tracks named "Nosedive" and "Camilla", the former being a remake of his unreleased track "Rio", the latter being known previously as "Suite 02".

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 19% based on 47 reviews, with a weighted average of 3.17/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "An action thriller starring Mads Mikkelsen as the world's most dangerous assassin should be terrifically entertaining, but Polar proves it's possible to ruin anything if you try."[12] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 19 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "overwhelming dislike".[13]

Future

Director Jonas Åkerlund has teased possible sequel ideas for the Netflix film Polar. Adapted from the web series-turned-graphic novel from Spanish author Víctor Santos (author) owned by Dark Horse Comics , Polar is based on the first book in the series and stars Mads Mikkelsen .

During a Polar interview with Screen Rant, Åkerlund opened up about the possibilities of a live-action Polar sequel. Considering that the graphic novels offer more stories to tell within Duncan's life post-retirement, he explained that fans have more to look forward to if his first adaptation ends up warranting more entries. When asked if there were any elements from the source material that he would like to incorporate into potential sequels, he said:

"It's supposed to be based on the first book, but we kind of borrowed a little bit from the second and the third book as well. And we also added some stuff that aren't even in the book. So, we had the freedom of working with these characters as we wanted - and, yeah, the Polar story has way more to give. He [Silva] actually wrote five books, and there's a lot more stories in there; and the characters are great, so why not?"

While Åkerlund seems enthusiastic about returning for a sequel, the same can evidently be said for Mikkelsen as well. Though he didn't read the Polar books until he got the role, Mikkelsen used to be a "huge graphic novel collector." Before the world of comics and graphic novels became a mainstream medium, Mikkelsen collected his fair share roughly 20 years ago.

Though Åkerlund didn't specify what parts of the story he'd want to cover in potential live-action sequels, the plot of the graphic novel's sequel, Polar: An Eye for an Eye, is a clear extension of the film's cliffhanger ending. In fact, without spoiling the film's ending, the events of Polar serve as a perfect origin story for a potential franchise, satisfying one character arc in particular that would no doubt be deeply satisfying for fans. Whether or not audiences ultimately get to see it on film, however, remains to be seen.

References
  1. Miska, Brad (December 18, 2018). "First Look at "Hannibal's" Mads Mikkelsen in Netflix's 'John Wick'-esque 'Polar'". Bloody Disgusting.
  2. "Jonas Akerlund on Instagram". Instagram. Retrieved January 7, 2019.
  3. "Graphic Novel 'Polar' Gets Film Adaptation from Dark Horse, Constantin". Variety. October 22, 2014.
  4. "Mads Mikkelsen to Star in Action-Thriller Movie 'Polar'". Variety. October 26, 2017.
  5. "Vanessa Hudgens, Katheryn Winnick & Matt Lucas Join Mads Mikkelsen In The Action-Thriller 'Polar'". Deadline. February 23, 2018.
  6. "Mads Mikkelsen is in Orono for filming of action thriller 'Polar'". kawarthaNOW. February 13, 2018. Retrieved September 19, 2018.
  7. "Netflix and Constantin start production on Polar". Comingsoon.net. February 23, 2018.
  8. "Goat Lord on Twitter: "well, the mouse is outta the bag,....working on my first film score for @constantinfilm @Netflix's #Polar..."". Twitter. September 18, 2018.
  9. "Polar Film Trailer Featuring The Music Of Deadmau5 Now Available". musicnewsnet.com. January 8, 2019.
  10. "Deadmau5 on His Scoring Debut for Netflix's 'Polar': 'I Wanted to Wait for the Right Thing'". Billboard. Retrieved January 25, 2019.
  11. "midas heel by deadmau5 on Spotify". Spotify. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
  12. "Polar (2019)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  13. "Polar". Metacritic. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
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