Dead of Winter relies on patience for the benefit of a satisfactory end, as Emma Thompson fends for her life against a sick and deadly Judy Greer. 

 

From the director of 21 Bridges and the acclaimed TV series The Day of the Jackal, the film, when it has the desire to be, is gorgeous to look at. The issue is that those moments are extraordinarily rare, with a number of these admirable shots occurring in the final few scenes. Beyond that, it is pale and bland with a bleak undertone of the winter emptiness draining the energy. 

 

The film’s detriment is its pacing, for a near 100 minutes - the run seemingly drags more than it should. The tension isn’t as high as it ought to be considering the circumstances. 

 

Emma Thompson is terrific and by the close of the film, you’ll be in or near tears. Her character’s backstory is whittled in between the action, which causes a bit of an unnatural breather from the ongoing suspense. From their first appearance, the flashbacks feel forcibly placed in, seemingly to give the character more background. However, not until near the end of these scenes do we truly appreciate their inclusion. 

 

Judy Greer is a surprisingly intense villain, fighting for her own life under any and all rationality. Stooping as low as to take a girl hostage for her own selfish benefit. And her husband, played by Marc Menchaca is merely along for the plan to ease his wife in her time of crisis - albeit how insane it may be. 

 

Dead of Winter gets you into the issue at hand rather quickly, but the proposed rescue mission takes a bit longer to get going. There’s a lot of hiding, running and shooting in the snow covered woods, but it can all get a bit repetitive the more the story drags on. Emma Thompson’s Barb is just at the right place at the wrong time and her destiny comes down to a promise she refuses to leave behind.