What kind of a madman would star in both movies called POLAR and ARCTIC in the same year? A Mads-man, that’s who (excuse the pun, or don’t, I don’t care). Despite the etymologically similar titles they couldn’t be more different projects. This is THE REVENANT two centuries further on and with a different bear. In very few films are you genuinely convinced that the hero is going to die, but Arctic is definitely one of them. It would be nigh-on impossible to survive on your own stranded in the Arctic Circle but Overgård (Mads Mikkelsen) has to drag someone else around on a sledge for most of the movie as well. It’s taut and harsh and gritty, only giving in to some slight romanticising in the final stretch. Survival nuts will get a kick out of the attention to detail and the research put in, everyone else will be compelled by another quietly dignified powerhouse performance from Mikkelsen. SSP