On the Ice

R

Released Feb 17, 2012

1h 36m

Drama

Mystery & Thriller

List

67%

15 Reviews

Tomatometer

61%

500+ Ratings

Audience Score

Two teenage best friends cause a tragic accident with another boy and weave a web of lies to avoid taking responsibility.

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david f

The story and characters are such as you will seldom see in a big budget film so it's nice that such a world can make it into movie theaters but the story was only slightly compelling and the snow waste setting didn't quite live up to its promise.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Being in the article circle must be as close as you can come to being in outer space without leaving the earth's surface. A vast empty place where life seemingly doesn't exist and if something goes wrong help could be so far away as to not even consider it a reasonable possibility. It's the perfect place for this kind of thriller. This movie does well what a lot of other similar type movies in this genre does, play up suspense of who will turn on each other, how close is an outsider to learning the truth, do they already know and are they just toying with you. However, I feel some of the acting felt a bit wooden at times. Nothing too distracting, but it's something I noticed. Yet, the landscape, visuals, and cast, all of whom are native Alaskans, gives the film a much needed fresh feel about it. They truly elevate it from being and bland run of the mill movie to one much more memorable.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/29/23

Full Review

Audience Member

An interesting movie about teenage life in isolated Alaska.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/14/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Probably the best film ever made about Alaska. The acting, direction and story are breathtaking, it has the perfect amount of suspense, just a terrific film.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/28/23

Full Review

walter m

In "On the Ice," Aivaaq(Frank Qutuq Irelan) and Qalli(Josiah Patkotak) are the best of friends while living on the Arctic Circle. At the same time, their lives are heading in vastly different directions. Aivaaq is about to become a father for the first time while Qalli is on a path to college. Still, they go to a party together that Qalli leaves early to visit his grandmother(Rosabelle Kunnanna Rexford). When Qalli goes out to meet Aivaaq and James(John Miller) for hunting the following morning, he finds the two fighting which soon escalates into something much more serious. James knocks out Aivaaq with a shovel and tries to kill him which Qalli prevents, accidentally killing James in the process. You have to commend any movie that takes us any place that we rarely see to meet people we would never have any contact with otherwise which is what "On the Ice" does quite well. In this Alaskan village, there is a tight-knit community where traditions are starting to fade, just as the youth feel they are trapped by limited opportunities, leading to underage drinking. For the record, this is also kind of simplistic and if you want to shock me with teenage drinking, then you are thirty years too late. But the movie manages to just twist the usual pardigms enough to make it interesting. Just remember. Stay in school and don't do drugs.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Well made but the acting could've been better, at the same time it gives it an authenticity that most movies rarely have.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/07/23

Full Review

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Andrew Okpeaha MacLean

Director

John Miller

James

Frank Qutuq Irelan

Aivaaq

Adamina Kerr

Michelle

Josiah Patkotak

Qalli

Rosabelle Kunnanna Rexford

Actor

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Bill Goodykoontz

Arizona Republic

The effect is stunningly effective, submerging us in a snowy, frozen, barren land with few options but plenty of opportunities for trouble. It is an offbeat gem.

Rated: 4/5

Mar 29, 2012

Full Review

Gary Goldstein

Los Angeles Times

An authentic look at life in remote Alaska (the film was shot with a native cast in MacLean's hometown of Barrow) and at a people grappling with drugs, alcoholism, poverty and the limits of an unforgiving environment.

Rated: 3/5

Feb 23, 2012

Full Review

Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

If only because of the setting, this is an uncommonly involving thriller. I could call it a film noir, except that the sun never sets in the film.

Rated: 3/4

Feb 23, 2012

Full Review

Jamie S. Rich

Oregonian

MacLean finds a steady rhythm that nicely captures life in the middle of nowhere. "On the Ice" stays frosty throughout, but it's engrossing if you can adjust to the temperature.

Rated: 2.5/5

Feb 4, 2014

Full Review

Chris Fyvie

The Skinny

Set in a remote Alaskan village, the film's great strength is making the landscape utterly extraordinary to the audience but painfully mundane to its protagonists.

Rated: 3/5

Feb 23, 2012

Full Review

Marshall Fine

Hollywood & Fine

Stark, unadorned, timeless and yet of the moment. Wear your mittens.

Feb 17, 2012

Full Review

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Synopsis

Two teenage best friends cause a tragic accident with another boy and weave a web of lies to avoid taking responsibility.

Director: Andrew Okpeaha MacLean
Producer: Doug Dey, Cary Joji Fukunaga, Nick Morton, Nick Quested, Rick Rosenthal, Gregory Smith, Susanne Adamski
Screenwriter: Andrew Okpeaha MacLean
Distributor: WME
Rating: R (Language|Violence|Some Drug Content)
Genre: Drama, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Feb 17, 2012, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 22, 2012
Box Office (Gross USA): $70.5K
Runtime: 1h 36m

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