Netflix has just dropped a trailer for their latest feature film and there should be a warning attached: may cause heavy breathing and frequent nail-biting. Based on the memoir by Ejnar Mikkelsen, Against the Ice stars Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Mikkelsen, an Arctic explorer who is bound and determined to find the diaries of the Mylius-Erichsen expedition: diaries that would prove that the previously held understanding of the shape of the East Greenland coast was a myth, erroneous and presumably self-serving to the United States.
While the plot is steeped in Denmark's history, the trailer is quick to establish the stakes of the film, highlighting the harsh conditions and the seemingly futile expedition that Mikkelsen and his sole accomplice Iver Iversen, played by Joe Cole embark upon. The anxiety begins at the onset of the trailer as Charles Dance delivers the film's thesis, saying, "When you travel into unknown lands to discover new parts of the globe, it is to ensure the records of your discoveries are delivered bacl, safe and sound. With or without you."
The trailer delivers the standard fair, introducing Waldau and Cole and establishing the dangers that lie ahead. Yet as the explorers travel deeper in the arctic terrain, which presents the beautiful cinematography of Torben Forsberg, the trailer's score becomes more cryptic and mysterious as the intrepid explorers battle the elements, the wildlife, their own mental capacity, and each other.
Against the Ice marks the return of Waldau as a writer, as he shares a screenwriting credit with Joe Derrick, who makes his debut as a feature film writer. Waldau had previously co-written the film Wildside with Simon Satho and starring Mads Mikkelsen. When speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Waldau acknowledged that the expedition highlight in Against the Ice "is not widely known...it's a great story that we can't wait for people to experience."
Directed by Peter Flinth, Against the Ice premieres exclusively on Netflix on March 2.Check out the official trailer below: