In Frozen, writer and director Adam Green pits three characters against nature, setting up a frightening, suspenseful tale that examines survival instinct in the face of imminent death. Unfortunately, it’s only a setup as the script can’t carry the film much farther than the initial idea, and the characters seem to exist only to move the plot, not to be developed or even liked.
Not all films need likeable characters, but Parker (Emma Bell), Joe (Shawn Ashmore), and Dan (Kevin Zegers) are annoying, whiny and condescending, so rooting for any of them is difficult task. What we’re left with is three characters that we don’t necessarily care about at all, and not that we wish death on them, but when travesty strikes, we feel little sympathy for them, being more grateful that we’re not in that position. Frozen could have fostered our sympathies for the three skiers hanging in peril from a shaky ski lift where their faces are growing more and more frostbitten as nature does what it does best: make us realize how inconsequential we ultimately are; instead, it becomes an exercise in eliminating characters through improbable ways.
The three skiers arrive in Mount Holliston for a break from their classes, and the drama begins instantly; they have no money, so Parker is asked to bribe Jason, the cable operator. He obliges by taking her hundred dollars and buying into her flirtatious assertion that she and her “two girlfriends” have no money. Clearly, the girlfriends are her boyfriend Dan and his best friend Joe, so we’ve already got three dishonest people as the protagonists.
Simultaneously, in the periphery, Joe asks Dan “you had to bring Parker didn’t you?” telling us that he does not approve of a girl intruding on a guy’s day on the mountain, adding that Dan rarely hangs out with the “boys” any more and he only watched “ten minutes” of the last football game, to which Joe also throws in “there are lots of ten minuteses” in a football game. And while he’s correct about the length of a football game, the dialog just seems forced; they might as well be saying, “we need to create conflict here so that when the three of us are on the chair lift, there’s tension.” But, the dialog is constantly bitchy, so there’s less tension and more of a desire to see all three of their tongues become stuck to the metal that surrounds them.
This type of condescension persists for the next fifteen minutes or so as the three characters ride the chairlift, exchanging rather pedestrian barbs with one another, some involving the perils of smoking tobacco versus marijuana and breathing in the fresh mountain air to that smell of “cancer.” While sarcasm and triteness shouldn’t equal death, the viewer wants to speedily move through these flat-character introductions and see how they get stranded, which might be the strongest part of the movie, in regards to its cleverness.
Nearing the end of the evening, Parker, Dan, and Joe want to get one last run in, so they once again approach Jason, who is once against swayed by Parker’s smile and batting eyelashes. After conceding, Jason’s co-worker approaches and says the boss wants to see Jason about next weekend, to which Jason replies “I’m not working next weekend” because he’s the best man at a bachelor party. Storming off, Jason tells the replacement there are “three more coming down” and to shut the lift off afterwards. As Parker, Dan, and Joe ascend the mountain, they admire the jump techniques of three other skiers – the first set of three skiers as opposed to the final set. Here, a simple miscommunication of accurate information dooms Parker, Dan, and Joe, so no fault can truly be assessed to any of the employees, which is neat in that this part of the script eliminates anyone charging through piles of snow at the end of the movie upon realizing that three people are trapped on a lift.
That said, there’s a bit of an issue contained in this setup as well. To denote the last riders on the lift, Jason fastens an orange flag to the final chair. The three in our posse approach him shortly after this, but only four or five additional chairs pass by before Parker et al are loaded into the lift. So, While the operator at the top of the hill sees the orange flag, he or she should also see three people only four chair behind it. Similarly, the amount that the three stranded folks yell would be loud enough to be heard by an operator only four or five chairs away. So, Frozen’s depiction of three stranded people in the middle of a mountain is wonky, and they would be much closer to the operator’s booth atop the mountain.
Chair-based logistics and personality traits aside, there are a number of other issues in this film. Clearly, frustration and futility begin to set in, particularly when the three remember that the mountain is closed during the week, leaving them potentially stranded for the next four days, which will certainly result in hypothermia and death. So, the brood must decide whether to perish to find a way down. The most obvious way would be to jump, yes? Unfortunately, Dan makes the first attempt and is met with a compound fracture to both fibulas. While this is a bit cringeworthy, it’s improbable. First off, they’ve been skiing on powder all day long, so the impact wouldn’t shatter his kneecaps. Secondly, dropping from a chair lift, which is at most twenty feet above the ground also wouldn’t shatter your legs; he may end up with a sprained ankle, but shattered? No.
So, let’s say Dan hit the ground with just the right velocity and at just the right angle, and both of his legs would shatter; he probably wouldn’t then be attacked by a pack of wolves, which is what Frozen gives us. While carnivorous, wolves hardly ever attack animals larger than themselves, and they are also rather skittish, so attacking a screaming human is also unlikely. But, let’s say that because Dan is injured, the wolves take their chances. After all, it’s cold, and they’re hungry. Sure. Why not?
But, what Dan’s death ultimately does is set up improbable rules to this situation, implying that there’s no way down. You can’t jump, and if you do, you’ll be eaten. The other option of escape is to climb to the nearest light tower, on which there are rungs to climb down. At the same time, the cable that leads to this tower is said to be “razor sharp,” which we find isn’t necessarily true because Joe manages to monkey climb along it, albeit while cutting his hands slightly. But, when he climbs down the rungs and mounts his snowboard, he is chased by a pack of wolves. Not for nothing, but if there are so many hungry wolves who show no fear when humans are around, how have more people not been eaten while skiing Mount Holliston? Seems a bit dangerous, no?
In the end, the rules set up are ultimately proved faulty when Parker manages to get out of the chairlift by dropping herself from it, avoiding shattered legs and wolves and she slides primarily face first down the mountain and collapses on the road before someone drives by and ensures her ability to live and condescend another day.
DYL MAG Score: 5