‘The Arctic Convoy Review: Middling World War 2 Drama Depicts A Perilous Allied Supply Chain To Russia
A half-century ago, Universal Pictures hoped to parlay the success of its efforts into a short-lived disaster movie craze for naval action movies that scored many hits but few other reviews with lackluster "Midway" and "The Gray." Lady Down' is reminiscent of bloated retro B-movies. After reviving the disaster genre with the trilogy The Wave, Earthquake and Burning Sea, their Norwegian producers seem to be taking the same route with Arctic Convoy, which follows a perilous journey. cargo ship that supplied the Allies on the Eastern Front during World War II.
The central situation of the story, inspired by facts, is quite convincing. But director and co-writer Henrik M. Dalsbeken (from the recent Munch biopic) did a mediocre job of satisfying action fans with too little excitement and no depth or character involvement to end it instead. A competent but boring Scandinavian film released domestically on Christmas Day, Magnolia has been picked up for a US release later this year.
It's the summer of 1942, and a lot of teenagers are busy, but there's no Jennifer O'Neill to teach them the ways of love. Instead, they learn much harsher lessons from the war, as the Nazis occupy Norway despite considerable resistance, including, by some, Allied involvement in arms and supplies on the Eastern Front. One of those ships is part of a large group bound for the Russian port city of Murmansk from Iceland, under serious threat of attack by the Axis powers.
Most of the team is young, inexperienced and scared. Gray-haired Captain Scar (Anders Baasmo) can rely on the same anecdotal determination as his "right-hand man," actually the only woman here, communications officer Ragnhild (Heidi Ruud Ellingsen). But he is much less confident in the decision of new first officer Mork (Tobias Santelman), who, it turns out, has only recently survived as a torpedo boat captain. He looks shaky, as do the chief engineer (Olav Vastad) and the boatman (Preben Hodneland).
The story begins four days after the expected two weeks, when a submarine reports that the fleet is within sight of Powers Ash. Soon destroyed or decommissioned, the other ships of about 30 transports fly like flies. To make matters worse, a few days later a mysterious message informs our heroes that they are missing a British military escort for unknown reasons. (End screen text says this is due to false information, considered one of the biggest Allied mistakes in the European theater.)
The remaining ships must "scatter" and go alone as far as possible to their destination. This terrible news reaches all ranks of the crew, causing a panic that the captain must calm. The collective mood is also shattered when Mork steers the ship into what appear to be mined waters, causing a tragic accident.
But the conflict between the captain and the first officer is taken to another dimension when an all-out German attack occurs midway through the film. It's a strong action sequence, unfortunately the only real one here. Although the situation was greatly saved by the Swedish gunner (Adam Lundgren), the damage caused left Mork in command, at least temporarily. He takes the opportunity to ignore the captain's orders, even if it means his own court-martial. However, the ship has its own requirements that cause unexpected course corrections and strategy changes during emergency repairs.
A clash between warring leaders—a break in the usually rigid chain of command—can be a moment of great drama, especially when it turns out there is no "bad guy" in the end. (Though Mork initially seems weak and even questionable, some of his decisions are ultimately the right ones.) But the script doesn't give them or the other characters enough depth to make this a psychological thriller, despite a "decent" plot." throw, attempts. This also means that the film suffers from tension after the first/last big central scene. The human dynamic isn't strong enough to avoid a sense of disappointment or make the ending less anti-climactic; never comes close to that feeling.
It's an impressive if simple exercise that, among other things, could have used a more assertive directorial style. By default, the focus is on the ship's dark interior and antiquated technology, said to be a preserved 1911 coal car that saw service in two world wars.
Otherwise, the Arctic Convoy is well-rounded enough at all levels to be of interest and maintain a reasonable reputation, if not to make a special impression. It's not exciting enough to dare to compare to the classic war movies of recent years (such as Lone Survivor or All Quiet on the Western Front ) or lively enough to resemble the B-movie genre of recent decades, such as Sam's Movie . Fuller: Anyone expecting more from the "Alik" trilogy will certainly not find it here. What they get instead is an intriguing historical chapter that is designed to provide good entertainment, albeit without the seriousness and excitement that this chapter certainly deserves.
