Sommerleigh Pollonais, Senior Writer
Plot: On a lonely road a prison transport is brutally assaulted. Martin, the policeman who was driving, survives and fortifies his position while the convicts search for a way to finish him.
Review: January is rarely a great month for movies. The ones I’ve watched so far have been a mixed bag of bad to average fare, so I wasn’t sure what to expect when I sat down to watch Below Zero (originally titled Bajocero). But I’m happy to report this Spanish thriller finally broke the bad streak for me and most definitely delivered on its premise.
Because of my location in Trinidad, my Netflix cues up from Latin America. What first seemed like a bad thing quickly turned around for me, as I’ve ended up seeing movies I probably would’ve never considered watching, and Below Zero is one of them. Set in Spain with Javier Gutierrez (The Occupant/Assassin’s Creed) as our lead Martin, this tale of justice versus vengeance doesn’t waste time getting to the thrills. Director Lluis Quilez does a great job of keeping the pacing tight, while still managing to give us room to get to know the characters in this suspenseful play. I love when movies do this by the way, especially when the genre calls for loads of tension. All the actors here deliver in their roles, which is quite commendable considering this is the kind of movie where characters such as these tend to show up, die and we quickly forget they ever existed.
There was also a great use of space and, considering that most of the story takes place inside a prison transport, that’s saying a lot. The director also doesn’t feel the need to feed you more information than you require, which always makes for suspenseful viewing. It’s a shame more American movies of this type don’t do the same.
All in all Below Zero is a taut thriller with loads of suspense, solid acting and a story that you can either enjoy on the surface or dive into the moral quandary of vigilante justice versus the law. How far is too far? Is it ever okay to take a life? If time travel was real, should you go back in time and kill baby Hitler in his crib? That last one has nothing to do with this movie, I’m just curious. Check out Below Zero, it’s ice cold in all the best ways.
Sommer’s Score: 6 out of 10
For Featured Writer Alice’s review of Spanish Thriller The Invisible Guardian you can click here. And for more than 50 thriller film reviews you can click here.
Sommerleigh of the House Pollonais. First of Her Name. Sushi Lover, Queen of Horror Movies, Comic Books and Binge Watching Netflix. Mother of two beautiful black cats named Vader and Kylo. I think eating Popcorn at the movies should be mandatory, PS4 makes the best games ever and I’ll be talking about movies until the zombie apocalypse comes.
Double Tap Baby!
You can also follow me as Moviejunkies Cont’d on Facebook and watch my movie review videos on YouTube. For my longer bio you can click here.