Review of The Frozen Ground (2013) by Paul N — 07 Nov 2013

Two men with families. One is Alaskan State Trooper Jack Halcombe (Cage), the other is suspected serial killer Bob Hansen (Cusack). When one of Hansen's victims is able to escape and notify the police, Halcombe tries to gather evidence, and if he fails he will let a vicious killer slip through his fingers.

Despite its solid cast and premise, the movie's characters are steeped in cliche. Jack Halcombe is played by Nicolas Cage, who plays a very solid and subdued performance. His character is haunted by the death of his young sister, who is the same age as Cindy Paulson (Hudgens), the victim who escaped.

On the other hand, Cindy Paulson is a runaway teenage prostitute/stripper who ingests all sorts of drugs. She repeatedly lets herself get into harm's way instead of being safe with the police. This is the way the character is written, but Vanessa Hudgens is able to act in the more intense scenes.

There must also be a special shout out to John Cusack. He is seriously underused, but pulls off a very quiet and subtle performance. Especially creepy is that (SPOILER) even when he is captured and in handcuffs, he is smiling when showing the police where he left his victims.

Despite the acting and thrills, the movie has some very dumb moments and has a cheap movie of the week feel. If the film were to devote more time to Hansen's home life and less on Cindy and her pimp, the movie would definitely improve in my eyes.

Gripes notwithstanding, The Frozen Ground is a well acted thriller with some good set pieces. Its good for a quick entertaining little crime movie, and nothing more.