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On the Ice

Play trailer Poster for On the Ice R 2012 1h 36m Drama Mystery & Thriller Play Trailer Watchlist
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67% Tomatometer 15 Reviews 61% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
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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On the Ice

Critics Reviews

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Bill Goodykoontz Arizona Republic 03/29/2012
4/5
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. Go to Full Review
Gary Goldstein Los Angeles Times 02/23/2012
3/5
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. Go to Full Review
Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times 02/23/2012
3/4
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. Go to Full Review
Jamie S. Rich Oregonian 02/04/2014
2.5/5
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. Go to Full Review
Chris Fyvie The Skinny 02/23/2012
3/5
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. Go to Full Review
Marshall Fine Hollywood & Fine 02/17/2012
Stark, unadorned, timeless and yet of the moment. Wear your mittens. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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david f 09/22/2019 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. See more 06/16/2016 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. See more 02/22/2015 An interesting movie about teenage life in isolated Alaska. See more 08/04/2014 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. See more walter m @Harlequin68 03/30/2014 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. See more 02/06/2014 Well made but the acting could've been better, at the same time it gives it an authenticity that most movies rarely have. See more Read all reviews
On the Ice

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Movie Info

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
Lynette Howell Taylor, Marco Londoner, Cara Marcous, Zhana Kushnir
Screenwriter
Andrew Okpeaha MacLean
Distributor
WME
Production Co
Whitewater Films, Treehead Films, Silverwood Films
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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