BELOW ZERO : Wednesday 14th July 2021.

With Greater Sydney in COVID lockdown once again, and as a result all cinema's closed until July 30th at least, once again I'll be reviewing a few of the latest feature films released recently onto Netflix. One such film that I watched from the comfort of my own home this week is the Spanish action thriller 'BELOW ZERO' (or 'BAJOCERO' in its native language) and is Directed and Co-Written by Lluis Quilez in only his second feature film outing following 2014's 'Out of the Dark' with Julia Stiles, Scott Speedman and Stepehn Rea. Quilez has however, received much critical acclaim winning seventeen awards with another six nominations from around the awards and festivals circuit for his short films, mostly for 'Graffiti', 'Avatar' and '72%'. 'Below Zero' was released to Netflix back in late January this year.

And so the film opens up with a hooded man whose identity is hidden from us, pursuing a younger man in the pouring rain in the dead of night. The younger man is trudging through the mud and can barely walk. He slumps down on the bonnet of a parked car only to be beaten heavily to the face and head by his assailant, who then points a gun at his head and demands to know the location of a missing body. He is then chained up and dragged backwards through the rain and mud, knocked semi-conscious and thrown into a shallow grave where the hooded figure promptly buries him alive. 

We then cut to a busy street where also in the pouring rain in a vehicle sits a man, his wife and his young daughter while they wait for roadside assistance to come and repair the blown tyre of their car. Being impatient the man gets out of the car and replaces the wheel himself, while his daughter looks on and his wife has gone on to work. Later that day, that same man, Martin (Javier Gutierrez) arrives at the Police precinct where he works and he is detailed to transfer six criminals from one prison to another later that night by driving a prisoner transport truck with his assigned partner for the journey, Montesinos (Isak Ferriz) together with a pilot vehicle containing two other Police Officers. 

Following a lengthy strip search of the six prisoners to check for any concealed weapons, lock picks, or other personal items that aren't permitted, they are all handcuffed and escorted to the truck, where they enter one by one and are each individually locked up for the duration of the journey in their own cell. Initially the journey starts out well enough with the two vehicles taking the back roads so save on travel time, that takes them along a winding woodland route. Gradually the temperature drops and the fog closes in making visibility treacherous, and Martin looses sight of the pilot vehicle in front. Over the radio he repeatedly asks the Police Officers to respond but their radio is silent. Shortly afterwards the transport truck is brought to an abrupt halt by a spike strip laid across the road to deliberately disable the vehicle. 

Montesinos exits the armoured truck leaving Martin inside the cab, to check out the unfolding situation. Further down the road he notices the Police car on its side, but before he is able to get to it he is gunned down by a sniper hiding in the woods. When Montesinos doesn't respond to Martin's radio call, Martin ventures outside. He first comes across Montesinos lifeless body laying in the road and then sees the lights of the Police car and goes to investigate but not before being shot at by the same sniper. Making it to the Police car and using it for cover, he notices the two Officers inside both dead. The sniper continues to take pot shots at Martin with a bullet narrowly missing him but grazing his ear. He is then shot in the leg but makes it back to the truck and enters the prisoners compartment. 

In the meantime, one prisoner, Ramis (Luis Callejo) has been able to free himself from his handcuffs using a make shift lock pick he had concealed inside himself and in so doing releases the other prisoners, who all ultimately overpower Martin despite his best efforts to quell their uprising by pointing his gun at them, whose magazine was empty having fired off all the rounds at the mystery sniper in the woods earlier. The assailant climbs into the cab and speaks to those prisoners and Martin over the loudspeaker, saying that he is only interested in one prisoner and if the others can get out of the truck then they are free to do so, but he has no way of getting in. The prisoner that the assailant is interested in is a young man named Nano (Patrick Criado), who instantly recognises the assailants voice as Miguel (Karra Elejalde) a former Police Officer who is crazy and he has no idea what he wants with him. Nano, in an attempt to preserve his life, swallows the only key that would have allowed all the prisoners to exit the truck through a hatch at the rear of the transport vehicle. The other prisoners offer to slice open Nano to retrieve the key, but Miguel says that he wants him alive. 

With no alternative, Miguel changes the punctured wheel of the truck, and drives off with the prisoners and Martin still locked inside the compartment at the rear, with Martin handcuffed to a security door keeping Nano company separate from the remaining prisoners. Ramis tries to reason with Miguel over the radio, but to no avail, so Martin attempts to communicate. Miguel still remains adamant that his interest only rests with Nano, and the others still have time to find a away to escape, but time is running out. Meanwhile, prisoner Pardo (Miquel Gelabert) is dead having being burned to death when Miguel poured petrol into his cell through a grate to allow for air flow, and set it alight, and Mihai (Florin Opritescu) was bludgeoned to death with a fire extinguisher by Nano while trying to escape, leaving four prisoners now. And the there were three as Rei (Edgar Vittorino) succumbed by being impaled head first onto a bolt he was attempting to undo in the luggage compartment under the floor of the truck in a bid to find an escape route, when Miguel forces Montesinos (who had come round but is badly injured) off the road in his car and abruptly comes to a grinding halt. Miguel goes to investigate and finds Montesino bleeding out behind the wheel of his car having crashed headlong into some boulders by the roadside. He dies from his wounds while Miguel looks on. 

Miguel then drives the truck as day breaks onto a frozen lake. He gets out and with his shotgun blasts holes through the ice close to three of the wheels, knowing that in a matter of minutes the ice will crack and the truck will sink to the icy depths below. Miguel gets out and walks to the shoreline. As the truck gradually begins sinking the four remaining occupants begin panicking as water starts rushing in. Martin pleads with Ramis to release him from his handcuffs using his makeshift lock pick. As the water levels rise Ramis drops the lock pick and Golum (Andres Gertrudix) swims down to retrieve it. When he resurfaces Ramis successfully frees Martin from his cuffs, but in the meantime Golum dies from the intense cold as his body shuts down. Martin says he knows a way out through an escape hatch in the roof, as the truck sinks to the bottom of the lake. He, Ramis and Nano make it out of the truck and swim to the surface in the bitter cold early morning air. 

By the lakeside Nano heads off in the opposite direction to Martin and Ramis, with Miguel looking on from a distance. Ramis and Martin bid their farewells to each other as the former walks away a free man with designs of opening a beachside bar on a tropical island somewhere. Nano heads off in the direction of an abandoned lakeside village as Miguel follows. Martin gets his bearings and heads there too. Miguel is positioned in a deserted barn taking shots at Nano who is cowering behind a wall. 

Martin stealthily makes his way up to the barn and confronts Miguel who reveals that he lost his daughter to a vicious rape/torture/murder, that her body had never been found, and that Nano was responsible. A fact that he learned from killing his best friend Chino (Alex Monner) in the opening scene of the film. Martin tries to tell him that it's not the way the law works, but Miguel states that the law failed him and he knows how the law works having been a Police Officer himself. The pair fight, and Miguel gets away eventually pinning down Nano and demanding the whereabouts of his daughter. Martin arrives and separates the pair. Nano rises to his feet and says he will never tell where the girls body is, effectively admitting to the crime. 

At that and with a Police helicopter approaching, Martin at the last minute decides to depart from his law-abiding beliefs and tortures Nano by shooting his hand clean off with Miguel's shotgun to extract the location of the disposed body of Miguel's daughter. As the Police arrive en masse by car and helicopter, Martin stands to his feet and raises his arms while Miguel still on the ground, smiles secure in the knowledge that he can locate his daughter and give her the funeral she deserves, while Nano spends his life behind bars. 

I have to say that I enjoyed 'Below Zero' more than I had anticipated. Sure, its never going to set the world alight but as far as engaging story lines go, solid performances, and enough blood and gore to keep fans of such genre films entertained, there is much to like here. The film could be described as a mix of 'Con Air' staged on the ground, the hugely successful Spanish series (also on Netflix) 'Money Heist' and almost anything that Liam Neeson has starred in recently, especially 'The Grey', 'Cold Pursuit' and the upcoming 'Ice Road' - you throw all of those into a blender and out pops 'Below Zero'. There are some questionable moments in the film that are used to propel the story along and for these it's best to let them slide without getting too bogged down in the story to interrupt what is essentially a taught, suspenseful, bloody and violent action thriller that is well worth searching out. The film is overdubbed into English. 

'Below Zero' warrants three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

THE OCCUPANT : Monday 6th April 2020.

In these very trying and testing times for us all that has seen many cinema's, Odeon's, and movie theatres around the world close their doors for the foreseeable future because of the escalating threat of the COVID-19 Coronavirus taking an ever increasing hold on the world at large, many film and television productions halted in their tracks indefinitely, and new film releases pushed back to some future date when some sense of movie going normalcy is expected to resume, I have, needless to say, had to adapt to this new world order. And so with my usual Reviews of the latest cinematic releases being curtailed, instead I will post my Review of the latest release movies showing on Netflix until such time as the regular outing to my local multiplex or independent theatre can be reinstated.

In the last few weeks then, a number of new feature films have landed at Netflix - of which I review as below 'The Occupant'  which I saw from the comfort of my own home on Monday 6th April.

'THE OCCUPANT' is a Spanish thriller (overdubbed into English) Directed and Written by David and Alex Pastor, and is a Netflix Original film that was released on the streaming service on 25th March.

The film opens up with Javier Munoz (Javier Gutierrez), a middle aged suggest closer to retirement than not, former advertising executive being interviewed by a couple of young gun media types. We quickly learn that Javier has enjoyed a highly successful and well regarded career in the world of advertising and is able to boast many milestone campaigns. But now, sat in the interview room with two young bucks he is being looked down upon as washed up, no longer relevant, and out of touch. He is politely told that the job they are seeking to fill is for a young up and comer and that this job would be beneath him. Obviously feeling dejected he puts on a brave face and leaves. When he gets home he tells his wife Marga (Ruth Diaz) that the interview went well and and he'll expect to hear in a couple of weeks. The couple live with their early teenage son in a very lavish penthouse apartment with sweeping views out across Barcelona, Javier drives a BMW, and their son goes to a private school - all the trappings of his successful and monied career.

But, with no money coming into the household, Javier and Marga are forced to face reality. Marga takes a job as a retail sales assistant and Javier continues unsuccessfully on the interview circuit. They sell up their apartment, much to Javier's disgust and move into a smaller unit in a far less well to do area of the city. They also have to let their cleaner go, which Javier does one evening while driving her home in the pouring rain. The final straw comes when Javier asks her for the keys to his apartment, which she throws at him and storms out of the vehicle in tears and swears at him.

As the weeks pass, Javier is also forced to advertise his beloved BMW for sale. He takes a number of calls of enquiry but tells all would be buyers that the car has been sold already. One day after another unsuccessful interview, Javier is in the car park and kicks in the side passenger door repeatedly out of sheer frustration at not being able to land a job. He immediately is remorseful for the damage caused to his pride and joy and opening up the passenger door he comes across the set of keys that the cleaner had thrown at him previously. A plan hatches in his mind.

The next day, using the keys to his former apartment he enters through the underground car park for which he still has the clicker to activate the door, takes the lift up to level five and lets himself in. He pokes around the apartment to see how the new owners have furnished the place, opens up the fridge, sits on the sofa eating a bowl of cereal, plays music, uses the toilet and leaves. He repeats this process on numerous occasions thereafter, each time digging deeper into the lives of the new owners by accessing their home computer and looking up diary bookings, historical files, photographs and sundry correspondence. He learns that the new residents Tomas (Mario Casas), his wife Lara (Bruna Cusi) and their young daughter Monica (Iris Valles) were involved in a car accident in which Lara and Monica sustained non-life threatening head injuries a few years back as a result of his drink driving for which Tomas has enlisted in an AA group and has been sober for over a year now.

Javier, through Tomas's diary inserts learns that he has an upcoming meeting in a church and ventures there in an attempt to uncover more of his story. Tomas enters a back room, and is sighted by a lady who ushers him in too. Initially, ill at ease, Javier soon goes with the flow and takes a seat in the circular formation of chairs, directly opposite Tomas. Javier remains silent until the very end, when the convenor asks if anyone wants to speak before wrapping up the evening. Javier stands on his feet and introduces himself as being new to Barcelona, that he has tried unsuccessfully on four separate occasions to kick his drinking habit, and the group has given him the strength too start afresh with a renewed focus for which he offers his sincerest thanks. After the meeting Tomas introduces himself to Javier and tells him that they seem to share similar stories. The pair then head off to a local cafe for a coffee to get to know each other some more.

What follows is Javier slowly and stealthily finagling his way into Tomas's life through access to the family computer calendar, a somewhat opportunistic and nosey gardener who comes to a sticky end when he attempts to blackmail Javier, his crashed BMW trashed by his own hand to garner sympathy from Tomas and to get closer to Lara, an impromptu dinner meeting at Tomas's apartment to meet Lara, a Spanish champion rhythmic gymnast that he worked on a media campaign for a few years ago and is able to pull some strings to get Lara and Monica (who is a budding young gymnast herself) to meet during a training session, and a manufactured email sent by Javier to himself using Tomas's email on his smartphone saying that he had relapsed and was seeking Javier's help, which proves to be the final straw for Lara in what was already a fragile relationship. Javier also learns in a one on one conversation with Tomas that he is extremely allergic to peanuts, and if he even comes close to a single peanut, it would more than likely kill him.

Things come to a head with Tomas as Javier visits him at his offices (he is the Vice President of his father-in-laws trucking empire and is desperately unhappy there) and Tomas punches Javier repeatedly in the face for driving a massive wedge between him and Lara. This gives Javier the ammunition he needs to confront Lara with the 'truth' about her unhinged, back on the bottle husband (even though in reality he is not), and gain her sympathy. At all times Javier portrays the caring, kind hearted friend who Lara can call upon at anytime 24/7, and gradually she is being won over, as is Monica. Knowing that at some point Tomas will return to the apartment and in all likelihood create a stink with Lara, Javier gives Lara a bottle of pepper spray, which he has secretly laced with peanut essence, which she can use to defend herself.

And so inevitably that day comes and Tomas gets sprayed with that can of whoop ass and hits the deck almost immediately with anaphylactic shock. Lara calls Javier out of desperation, who just happens to be in the neighbourhood and comes round knowing exactly what to expect. He orders Lara into Monica's bedroom to shield the events from her daughter and not to come out while he calls the Police and an ambulance. Tomas shows signs of life, but Javier quickly suffocates him, expelling any life from his already ailing body.

We then fast forward a few months and Javier has a top job back at a successful advertising firm, he is driving a smart new saloon car, and is residing in a very plush house with Lara and Monica. Life is all good, and he has left his old life behind and has very successfully worked his way upward and into a new life, with a new ready made family with all the trimmings thanks very much. As for Marga, well she appears at Javier's new place of work one day and announces that she has worked out Javier's scam and is going to the Police. But Javier threatens to halt his sons trust fund and cast her and her son out on the street by selling the apartment she is living in which has his name on the deeds, and with the proceeds he will engage very, very expensive defence lawyers. Marga is beaten into submission, out of protecting the interests of herself and her son.

I have to say that I enjoyed 'The Occupant' more than I was expecting to. This has certain similarities to Bong Joon-ho's big time Oscar winner 'Parasite' in as much as here is a man trying to better his status in life by any means necessary, and ultimately succeeding, but, this is where the similarity ends. Whereas 'Parasite' has an intelligent script, deeply dark humour, style and substance, emotional weight, and a strong cast, 'The Occupant' barely scratches the surface of these attributes. That said Gutierrez gives a solid performance but the other characters sit on the periphery and are under cooked in terms of their contribution to Javier's motivations, or their own back stories which either don't exist or are barely touched on. The story though moves along at a fair pace, it certainly grips the attention, and the ending offers an unexpected twist as the good guy turned bad wins the day, gets the girl and drives off into the sunset seemingly content in his new life.

'The Occupant' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard, from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-