The Ice Harvest DVD Review:

After years of working for Wichita crime boss Bill Guerrard (Quaid), Charlie Arglist (Cusack) and Vic Cavanaugh (Thornton) decide that enough is enough. Lawyer Charlie has come up with a plan to steal $2 million from his boss on Christmas Eve but after taking it all they have to do is act normally for the rest of the day before disappearing forever during the night. For Charlie however, this starts to prove extremely difficult.

Gathering together an excellent ensemble cast and a director that excels with comedy dramas and you would expect to have a hit on your hands but with ‘The Ice Harvest’ you would be sadly disappointed.

Based on the novel by Scott Phillips, all the ingredients were there for a classic low budget, character driven piece but unfortunately that isn’t the case. Instead we have a drama without any drama and a comedy without any comedy. The film meanders along at an extremely slow pace, hollowing the Charlie character as he waits to get away with the stolen money.

More used to big Hollywood pictures, Harold Ramis usually writes and directs his own comedies but he has never really done anything like this before. While advancing from comedy to comedy-drama he has forgotten to bring the comedy with him. The film just doesn’t have any real laughs in it, with only Oliver Platt’s character trying to inject some comedy into the proceedings. Maybe the director should have adapted the novel himself.

John Cusack has always been a very watchable actor and as Charlie Arglist he creates another likeable character but he is absolutely nothing new to the character. Billy Bob Thornton isn’t in the film enough to make as big an impact as he should have done as the devious Vic. Oliver Platt seems to be stuck playing the same character for the whole of his career. Connie Nielsen is as beautiful as ever but her character really has nothing to do and Randy Quaid is completely wasted as mob boss Bill Guerrard.

‘The Ice Harvest’ is a big disappointment. The lack of both effective comedy and drama make this a very average movie with nothing much to recommend it. It will just leave you feeling cold.

Star Rating = * *

PICTURE & SOUND

Presented in Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1 with Dolby Digital 5.1, the movie is presented brilliantly, highlighting the fantastic animation and sound design.

BONUS FEATURES

Alternative Endings 1 & 2 (10.28 mins)
Watch the two more downbeat endings to the movie

Outtake with Billy Bob Thornton (1.31 mins)
Watch Billy Bob Thornton play one of his scenes as his character Karl Childers from ‘Sling Blade’

Cracking the Story (17.02 mins)
Author Scott Phillips and screenwriters Robert Benton and Richard Russo talk about the novel and adapting it for the silver screen. The featurette sees the trio reveal the changes made from book to screen, highlighting the differences in time frame and the parts of the novel that are missing from the screenplay.

Beneath the Harvest (13.05 mins)
Director Harold Ramis, producers Ron Yerxa and Albert Berger, cinematographer Alar Kavilo and stars John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton, Connie Nielsen and Oliver Platt talk about bringing the novel to the silver screen. The group talk about the structure of the anti-Christmas movie and the noir-feel of the production. They also talk about the characters of the piece and what director Harold Ramis brings to the project.

Ice Cracking: Analysis of a Scene (6.17 mins)
Director Harold Ramis, producers Ron Yerxa and Albert Berger, production designer Patriza Von Brandenstein and star Billy Bob Thornton talk about the key lake scene. Here we see how the scene was constructed and how the stuntmen and actors came together to create the scene.

Feature Commentary with director Harold Ramis
The man at the helm provides a decent single person commentary for the movie. He talks about moving into independent cinema and the difference between this and his previous bigger budget, Hollywood projects. He discusses the Chicago shoot, filling in for the Wichita setting and what the cast and crew brought to the production. This is a good commentary from a director who is trying to step into a new genre of filmmaking.

Trailers
Watch previews of ‘Jarhead’, ‘First Descent’, ‘Brick’ and ‘My Name is Earl’

OVERALL

Universal and Focus Pictures have done a good job with the DVD transfer of ‘The Ice Harvest’. The commentary is worth a listen and the featurette offer a good insight into the films production. Fans of the film should be pleased.



Jamie Kelwick

It seems recently that all dark comedies about a crime to take place on Christmas Eve must have Billy Bob Thornton in them. I suppose there have only been a few of these such films, but it still doesn’t seem as though many other actors could have filled the role as easily in Harold Ramis’s new film that also stars John Cusack. The Ice Harvest manages to blend genres seamlessly and effortlessly in a way that is quite unique. While the film starts as a crime film it quickly turns into a dark comedy, but by the last act of the film it begins to conform to the textbook requirements of a film noir.

Charlie (Cusack) and Vic (Thornton) both work for the mob in Wichita, but on one fateful Christmas Eve they put into motion a plan to steal two million dollars from their boss and flee town. When the roads are iced over they are forced to spend the night acting as if nothing has happened so that they don’t raise suspicions. Charlie travels from one mob-owned strip club to the next occasionally crossing paths with a strip club owner he wants to run away with him (Connie Nielson), a friend that is now married to his ex-wife (Oliver Platt), and the police.

Charlie is a hesitant man while Vic seems more likely to make decisions without regard to consequence, so Charlie begins to worry that he may be left behind or killed by his partner. Thornton is great as Vic because he has many opportunities to get mad and swear, which is something that this actor has made a career of doing. Platt is also quite entertaining because he is drunk the entire film. He can’t hold his alcohol and some of the scenes are quite embarrassing, but a great depiction as well as a source of humor in the film. Nielson is great as the femme fatale, even using her voice as a tool against Charlie.

The Ice Harvest has a great feel to it. The color tones are fantastic and contrasting. There are many scenes in which all of the colors are cool and obviously mirrored to represent the ice in the film, but then there are many scenes in the strip clubs and bars that are filled with fake and artificial lights. There are a number of people that would argue that a film noir must be shot in black and white, and although this is in color, many scenes have the feel of a black and white film.

The DVD has a number of great special features, but most importantly is the alternate ending. Most viewers probably never watch the special features, but the one exception is the alternate ending. Everyone wants to know how the film would have been different, and this ending is somewhat more expected than what was in the actual film. There is also a feature commentary with director Harold Ramis, who is humorous with subtlety and wit throughout the track. Another great special feature is an outtake with Billy Bob Thornton which is worth checking out. The other special features include a behind the scenes featurette, a featurette about the adapting of the book to screenplay format, and an analysis of a key scene within the film.

Ryan Izay