Critics have slammed Netflix's latest offering, the comic-book adaptation Polar, for being too excessive. Too much sex, nudity, depravity and violence. Especially its violence. Yet take a casual glance through Instagram, Snap Chat and Facebook, and that's all you see.
Well, maybe not the violence part. Otherwise hypocrites, aren't we all.
Yes, Polar is all the things it's criticized for, and more. But somewhere in their pretentiousness, the critics have missed the point. Polar is the kind of ride made back in the 80s and 90s. It's a blood-soaked bit of grindhouse cinema that's been run through an Instagram filter to make it look shiny and new. In fact, every frame is worthy of a social media post.
One reviewer slammed it for being made for 14-year-old boys. This is also true. Polar is the kind of movie my buddies and I loved when we were 14 and, Man Child that I am, I still had a great time with it. This movie is in love with its hot women, guns, violence and dark humour -- everything a growing boy needs!
I do have a few complaints. Polar is too long. An easy 20 minutes could have been cut. At its current runtime, too much time is spent on characters and scenes that don't matter. I'm also not a big fan of torture, and there's one sequence in here that goes on too long. Way too long.
But Mads Mikkelsen, Vanessa Hudgens, Kathryn Winnick and company all do fine work. The action is explosive and the body count high. And I laughed quite a bit, because dark humour is my thing.
Clearly, Polar isn't for everyone. But, for us perpetual 14-year-old boys, it's a Good, warts and all.
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