The Frozen Ground

You’ll still find the tension has you gripping your seat, thanks to the taut cat and mousery between ol’ Con Air co-stars Cusack and Cage.

"The Frozen Ground" trucks in cliche, as most serial killer and police procedural films do, but the strength of the acting (from the leads down to people with only one or two lines) helps ground the film.

A taut procedural with atmospheric location work that traces Cage's clock-racing efforts to find evidence against Cusack ...

The movie's only fresh element is the wintry setting, which shrouds everything in a mood of weary fatalism. Otherwise, it's the same old, same old, efficiently discharged and utterly disposable.

Unfocused, flitting back and forth from separate Cage, Cusack, and Hudgens arcs without forming them into one vision.

The movie's late-night cable feel and skeevy salaciousness grinds everything to a snowy slush.

Nicholas Cage and John Cusack are at their best in quite sometime here.

Only Patrick Murguia’s on-location photography of the Alaskan wilderness holds any notable merit.

Nerve-wracking, nail biting and blood curdling, The Frozen Ground will send chills down your spine while warming your heart.

Here is a testament to the considerable tension that can be mounted from a cast determined to give realistic performances paired with a director that seems to know something about developing realistic characters.