Black Crab (2022)

Continuing with my Noomi Rapace appreciation flow, my next stop was this Swedish post-apocalyptic yarn about a group of soldiers who are picked for a mission (because they are good ice-skaters) in the midst of an all-out war between two sides. They had to be good ice-skaters because it was the only way to deliver a potentially war-ending package to where it needs to be - over the ice-covered landscape of northern Europe.

We start off in the thick of chaos and violence in which Noomi's character, Edh, loses track of her daughter, with whom she's travelling in a car. People with guns are indiscriminately shooting anything that moves in the midst of a huge traffic jam. We then cut to a train, where Edh is plucked from a war-torn carriage and whisked off for the mission by the military. She's clearly not only a mother, but also a trained soldier. As well as a good ice-skater!

We then join the crack team, who are given the items in question, and sent off to skate to where it needs to go across that frozen sea. They are likely to be picked off by the enemy, so much travelling is done when it's dark and resting when light. You don't need to belong to Mensa to work out that the mysterious package is not quite all it seems and that the military are possibly covering some agenda up, so unknown to the team! Amongst the adventures en route, various members of the team suddenly become less like soldiers and more like free-thinking individuals, taking moral stands about war and the fete of humanity, forgetting that they're under orders.

Relatively inexperienced director/writer Adam Berg holds the reins here and provides us with a fairly decent thriller with some suspense, violence and action thrown in as we spend most of the time with the team, on a kind of road-trip. On ice! There's some lovely scenery on offer so the cinematographer was able to cash in and make that look fairly good when it wasn't night. Though even when it was, the use of lighting, especially on and through the ice, was nicely done). There's also set considerations, with crumbling cities and barren urban landscapes which looked convincing enough too.

Noomi Rapace (Stockholm, Lamb, The Secrets We Keep, You Won't Be Alone) leads the fairly capable-looking cast who are able to keep up - and in many instances, perform convincingly. So, plenty of people shooting other people, fighting, knifework, spurting blood, explosions and general Bond-style nastiness to thrill the action-seeking folk. Not very intellectually challenging throughout, though, so don't come looking for that! The final scenes feel very much like a Bond film! Noomi is the star of course and she does an excellent job though I don't think she needed to try very hard. She's an excellent actress and many people appreciate her talent, but this is a payday job!

It's an enjoyable ride for the best part of two hours and generally the time flies along. Don't try too hard to think about it all, just enjoy the thrills! It's subtitled, dubbed or whatever, so take your pick. Worth a look, for sure, even if nobody will be winning many awards.