Polar

It plays better than it reviews — the watch lands harder than the write-ups suggest.

• “Mads Mikkelsen and Vanessa Hudgens’ on-screen chemistry bring some much-needed heart to Polar’s bloodsoaked story.”

  David Griffin, IGN · 65

• “The film’s horniness and amorality, a slap in the face of fanatically cautious contemporary mores, might’ve been more shocking if it weren’t placed so firmly in quotation marks.”

  Chuck Bowen, Slant Magazine · 63

• “Polar is pure trash, but the generousness — and, in the final stretch, the poignancy — with which Mikkelsen approaches even the most lurid of the film's conceits at least pushes it toward the top of the garbage heap.”

  Keith Uhlich, The Hollywood Reporter · 50

• “Åkerlund — the Swedish mastermind behind tastemaking music videos for the likes of Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, and Taylor Swift — has jittery, high-gloss style to spare. But the primary-colored nihilism of his storytelling feels amateurish and ultimately exhausting; a gleefully unhinged teenage-boy dream that aims only for hard, shiny surfaces, and stays there.”

  Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly · 42

• “Every second grates and confuses in equal measure, with nary a thrill of inventive, exciting action filmmaking to break up the monotony.”

  Clint Worthington, Consequence · 25