Posted: 03/08/2006

Eight Below

(2006)

by Tony Liccardello

Well this is a first. Last year, I sat down and watched a Michael Bay film entitled ‘The Island’ and actually enjoyed it. Well the same surprise can be said about ‘Eight Below’, a film starring Paul Walker, who has the uncanny ability of picking terrible films to star in. (See: 2 Fast 2 Furious, The Skulls, Joyride, Timeline, Into the Blue, etc..) He probably should look into firing his agent.

On the contrary, ‘Eight Below’ is an entertaining film. The story begins as tracker Jerry Shepherd (Paul Walker) escorts a scientist towards a meteor site in the frozen tundra of the Antarctic. During their journey, they become caught in the middle of a severe storm, and the scientist sustains a serious injury. They are forced to retreat back to the research base. Weather reports indicate that the storm is so severe, that everyone must leave the base immediately. There is no time to bring the eight dogs with them, so Jerry must leave them behind.

This is where the movie really shines, as for the next hour, the story mainly focuses on the dogs struggle for survival through the dangers of the Antarctic. What is so fascinating is the acting ability of these dogs. This may sound strange, but throughout the story, they convey a variety of emotion, that as an audience member, you can really feel what they are going through. There is very little dialogue during act two, which really gives the film a genuinely documentary-style feel. You watch and observe these animals work as a team to hunt food, find shelter, and protect one another from other predators. This sequence is like a Sunday Night Movie Special on the Discovery Channel.

Unfortunately, the screenwriter forces in pointless scenes of tracker Jerry Shepherd who is coping with the loss of his beloved dogs. This wouldn’t be so bad if actor Paul Walker didn’t seem to be reading lines of a cue card. He is easily out acted by these animals, which are the real stars of this film. The film is plagued with various scenes of Mr. Walker trying to look distraught, but ends up looking constipated over the grief he feels.

On top of these animals acting abilities, they each seem to have their own personality. Their trainer did one heck of a job working with them. Each of these animals has names. My two personal favorites were Max and Mya, and it is sort of a wonder on why more of the story wasn’t focused more on these animals, and less on Paul Walker in which if he keeps following the same path, may earn the nickname ‘the human mannequin’.

Mya, clearly the leader of the pack, acts as the father of the group. And in one action-packed sequence, you’ll end up sweating bullets wondering how in the heck he’s going to survive this. If “Eight Below” does one thing well, it is the character development created by these animals. I’ve never quite seen a film do this with animals before, it really is incredible. There is plenty of action and suspense in their story. This isn’t the typical Disney film that you’d expect. It is based on a true story

The film isn’t without some major flaws however. It is bogged down by its running time, which is a half hour too long, and not enough attention is focused on these animals. The Paul Walker subplot is boring and unappealing. The film does however, have some really great moments and is an entertaining film. But unless you are a dog freak, I’d say it is safe to wait till this is available in your netflix Queue.

Grade: 3 out of 5 stars.

Tony Liccardello is a writer in the Midwest.

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