Nifty direction results in imagery that’s as breath-taking as it is haunting, an intensity that rocks you to the core, and yet another phenomenal act from Mikkelsen serving as the soul of the film.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 14, 2024

ARCTIC is a survival horror movie with a surprisingly warm human heart and understanding of the human soul. It is gripping while not really having an excess of violence or action sequences to fall back on. It is a gem that should not be missed.

| Dec 28, 2022

It’s hard to think of anyone better equipped to lead this movie than Mads Mikkelsen. His tough exterior and rugged disposition is only outdone by his innate ability to speak volumes with so few words.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Aug 19, 2022

As the linchpin of the film, Overgård requires an actor of Mikkelsen's calibre in order for an audience to fully identify and sympathise with his struggle - as well as marvel at his ingenuity and integrity.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Mar 25, 2021

The best movies transport their audiences to places they may never experience or even want to go. The makers of Arctic go to flabbergasting lengths to tell their harrowing story, giving its audience a massive reward in the process.

| Feb 18, 2021

It wouldn't surprise me if you need a moment to catch your breath after watching Arctic. Joe Penna's beautifully absorbing film is the ultimate journey of survival.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 27, 2020

Mikkelsen's performance is a triumph of physicality, portraying a man who carries all of his suffering and hardship in his increasingly snowy beard.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 15, 2020

[The filmmakers] shoot their horizons with a disoriented field of direction that never telegraphs itself while the sound . . . is more teasing in its momentum.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jul 27, 2020

It's intimate, distressing, moving. A solid human survival movie. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 7/10 | Jul 21, 2020

I'll fully admit being a sucker for survival movies like this, but the beautifully, starkly photographed Arctic goes beyond your typical "roughing-it" films to give us a raw tale of determination.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 16, 2020

A moving tale of survival against all odds.

| May 29, 2020

Arctic is an engrossing movie and sometimes almost unbearably tense film, shot smartly by debut director Joe Penna.

| Apr 21, 2020

First-time feature director Joe Penna and his cowriter and editor Ryan Morrison skillfully exploit genre conventions, but suspense arises mostly from what fresh hells they devise for the hero to conquer, for conquer he must.

| Mar 25, 2020

Mads Mikkelsen shines in this uneven tale of survival that could have used more time in the editing room.

| Jan 19, 2020

Cerebral in its own way, with a purposely vague story that rewards the thoughtful viewer.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 18, 2020

For the most part, this is a typical story of survival in harsh conditions, but there are some plot twists, and it is a well-made film. Mikkelsen shines as the rugged, capable pilot of a downed plane somewhere in the Arctic Circle.

| Original Score: B | Jan 6, 2020

What keeps you watching is Mikkelsen. The actor is at his best in the open air, and here he gives the tundra a run for its money in the competition to see who can seem the most rugged and elemental.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 19, 2019

With just a little more invention and originality, this film might have been something truly special. As it stands, it's a fantastic showcase for its star and, though slow in places, still highly watchable.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 10, 2019

There's an existential quality to Arctic, a tremendously moving meditation on how we persevere through near-insurmountable hardships, what it takes to keep the light from going out.

| Nov 23, 2019

A survival story that shifts gears into a spiritual parable about kindness and compassion.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Nov 22, 2019