In 2003, Billy Bob Thornton starred because the title character in Dangerous Santa, a gritty, crime-filled, adult-oriented Christmas comedy. Followers of that film, although, shall be thrilled to be taught that two years later, Thornton performed one of many leads in The Ice Harvest, a gritty, crime-filled, adult-oriented Christmas comedy. Sound acquainted? Regardless of their surface-level similarities, nonetheless, The Ice Harvest is a really totally different form of movie from Dangerous Santa, and an arguably higher one. This 2005 characteristic co-starred John Cusack and was directed by Harold Ramis, whose earlier work consists of Groundhog Day. The approaching collectively of three skilled contributors to the film business for a gangster Christmas film works terribly effectively.
Set firmly within the underworld of Kansas, The Ice Harvest follows Charlie Arglist (Cusack), a mob lawyer planning to run away with $2 million he’s embezzled from his strip-club-owner employer, Invoice Guerrard (a nasty Randy Quaid). Thornton performs Charlie’s confederate, Vic Cavanaugh, who makes his cash promoting pornography. Prepared and determined to flee with their stolen money, the frozen roads and busy streets of the vacation season hinder Charlie and Vic’s getaway.
A Neo-Noir Christmas
“The Ice Harvest” is a wickedly humorous thriller about thick thieves and skinny ice. It is Christmas Eve in wet, icebound Wichita, Kansas, and this 12 months Charlie Arglist (John Cusack) simply might need one thing to rejoice. Charlie, an legal professional for the sleazy companies of Wichita, and his unsavory affiliate, the steely Vic Cavenaugh (Billy Bob Thornton), have simply efficiently embezzled $2,147,000 from Kansas Metropolis boss Invoice Guerrard (Randy Quaid). Even so, the actual prize for Charlie could be the gorgeous Renata (Connie Nielsen), who runs the Candy Cage strip membership. Charlie’s fondest Christmas want is to slide out of city with Renata. However, as daylight fades and a storm whirls, everybody from Charlie’s ingesting buddy Pete Van Heuten (Oliver Platt) to the native police start to marvel simply what precisely is in Charlie’s Christmas stocking. For Charlie, the 12 hours of Christmas Eve are full of nonstop twists and turns, each on the ice and off.
- Launch Date
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November 23, 2005
- Runtime
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88 minutes
The strengths of The Ice Harvest lie in the truth that, whereas a pure gangster movie on the floor, its deeper values are fully suited to its Christmas setting. Regardless of its exhausting exterior and gritty storyline, the film has a heat at its coronary heart which is undeniably festive — and there are some genuinely strongly emotional moments all through its runtime (partly because of a beautiful supporting position from Oliver Platt). With its darkish setting, nice performances from the forged, and an odd Christmastime magnificence, The Ice Harvest may simply be Billy Bob Thornton’s finest Christmas film.
Whereas Thornton’s Dangerous Santa character Willie is a small-time felony, hopping between procuring malls and robbing no matter money he can get his palms on on the finish of his stint, in The Ice Harvest, he performs somebody much more concerned with the felony underworld. Vic Cavanaugh is an skilled, hardened felony with ties to far higher forces than only a thieving mall Santa. Vic is nearer to Thornton’s character in Fargo Season 1 (however with a greater haircut) than his character in Dangerous Santa.
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The sense of scale is increased in The Ice Harvest, and the film is eager to current the gang world dangerously sufficient. All through the movie, a number of gang members seem, every serving totally different roles inside their respective group. This grounds the film inside a transparent kind of tradition, and the weather of Scott Phillips’ novel from which the screenplay was tailored land very effectively on-screen. That is partly as a result of it is a clearly cinematic story, tethered to the nice and cozy neon glow of Christmas lights and the howling, snowy winds of Kansas in winter.
Writers Richard Russo (a Pulitzer Prize winner for Empire Falls) and Robert Benton (a three-time Oscar winner for Bonnie and Clyde, Kramer vs. Kramer, and Locations within the Coronary heart), have been largely trustworthy of their adaptation, and director Harold Ramis clearly understands the style of cinema from which The Ice Harvest takes its lead. It is a movie rooted within the noir custom of the Nineteen Forties and ‘50s, however up to date for the twenty first century with out shedding an excessive amount of of that basic vibe and really feel. There’s even a beautiful femme fatale position from a sultry Connie Nielsen. The Ice Harvest actually succeeds as a gangster flick, and its Christmas setting is an added bonus.
Phenomenal Performances from Thornton & Cusack
Billy Bob Thornton and John Cusack rise to the problem of those felony characters, and each put in some splendidly nuanced performances which permit them each to showcase a few of their performing vary. With a spiky relationship and persistently hectic responses to the heist and its many double-and-triple-crosses within the movie, each characters really feel sensible. Cusack is at his melancholy finest right here, drawing from the good-looking, cynical antihero he perfected in The Grifters, Grosse Pointe Clean, and Excessive Constancy, however with a a lot sadder edge.
Each actors relish the flexibility to oscillate between comedy and drama, and the film advantages general from this — in addition to barely lightening the chilly temper once in a while. Cusack will get a number of extra alternatives to shine than Thornton, however the latter’s efficiency continues to be impressed, and clearly distinct from his earlier Christmas flip in Dangerous Santa. The 2 actors clearly constructed a robust rapport 5 years prior with their movie Pushing Tin, and it pays off right here. The connection between their characters right here is considerably akin to that of Ken and Ray in one other crime caper, In Bruges. Whereas not too related tonally, there are similarities in the way in which that each films handle to conjure up an emotional response to 2 criminals.
The Christmas Spirit for Lonely Souls
Regardless of its darkish — at occasions pretty bleak — setting, The Ice Harvest has some genuinely heartfelt moments which play into the tropes of extra conventional Christmas films. Cusack’s character, Charlie, has a humorous, nice relationship with Oliver Platt’s character, who’s at the moment married to Charlie’s ex-wife. For anybody who feels lonely at Christmas, watching Charlie peer by means of the window at his previous household celebrating the vacation is especially poignant. Dangerous Santa and The Ice Harvest are each nice movies to drink to, however The Ice Harvest is rather more soulful.
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It is not precisely a movie for the entire household — nor, essentially, ought to it even be part of the festive feel-good ranks of Dwelling Alone and Miracle on thirty fourth Avenue — however The Ice Harvest encourages its viewers to sympathize with its characters, and with anybody who is likely to be misplaced or alone at Christmas (even criminals). The Ice Harvest, nonetheless mature and grownup its plot is likely to be, is deserving of a spot someplace among the many Die Arduous franchise as a refreshing and unexpectedly totally different Christmas favourite.