The Frozen Ground is based on a real life story about the investigation into a serial killer and his lone survivor in Anchorage, Alaska. The Frozen Ground seems like an extremely sensationalized version. What is it about Alaska and murder movies? I kept thinking of Insomnia, but I’m sure there are more. Did the serial killer really use his connections to the seedy underworld to eliminate the lone survivor? Is Anchorage literally awash with underage hookers and pimps like 50 Cent? (Side note: if a movie has 50 Cent, I automatically deduct excellent points in proportion to his screen time. He is one musician who has not been able to effectively transfer his musical talent to acting.)
The Frozen Ground felt less sympathetic and more voyeuristic in its view of the killer’s victims. The Frozen Ground felt like another station of the sexualizing barely legal former child star cross. Will she get naked? Will she have simulated sex on screen? No, she won’t so skip it you dirty birds. You need Jesus. Axel’s girlfriend from The Middle appears briefly. What happened to her little dog?!?
I watch too many movies so I think that if you are like me and saw Werner Herzog’s Bad Lieutenant, you may be unable to completely believe Nicholas Cage’s understated performance in The Frozen Ground. The Frozen Ground does effectively indict the inherent misogyny and blame the victim culture of criminal investigation and prosecution by showing what an uphill battle it is for ‪#‎notallmen‬ patrol officer who takes the lone survivor’s statement and secretly blows the whistle on his department and Cage as the state trooper who doggedly fights for victims regardless of how imperfect they are. Cage and John Cusack elevate The Frozen Ground. The Frozen Ground is true to its name and breaks no ground. The Frozen Ground has not met a trope it did not like, but it did have one remarkable moment of comparing and contrasting the purity of nature and how humans have diverted from it. Unless you must see everything that Cage and Cusack are in, you can skip the trite and prurient The Frozen Ground.