Polar
Netflix | Release Date (Streaming): January 25, 2019 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
19
METASCORE
Overwhelming dislike based on 12 Critic Reviews
Positive:
2
Mixed:
2
Negative:
8
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
65
IGNDavid GriffinJan 24, 2019
Mads Mikkelsen and Vanessa Hudgens’ on-screen chemistry bring some much-needed heart to Polar’s bloodsoaked story. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineChuck BowenJan 24, 2019
The film’s horniness and amorality, a slap in the face of fanatically cautious contemporary mores, might’ve been more shocking if it weren’t placed so firmly in quotation marks. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterKeith UhlichJan 28, 2019
Polar is pure trash, but the generousness — and, in the final stretch, the poignancy — with which Mikkelsen approaches even the most lurid of the film's conceits at least pushes it toward the top of the garbage heap. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattJan 30, 2019
Åkerlund — the Swedish mastermind behind tastemaking music videos for the likes of Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, and Taylor Swift — has jittery, high-gloss style to spare. But the primary-colored nihilism of his storytelling feels amateurish and ultimately exhausting; a gleefully unhinged teenage-boy dream that aims only for hard, shiny surfaces, and stays there. Read full review
25
ConsequenceClint WorthingtonJan 24, 2019
Every second grates and confuses in equal measure, with nary a thrill of inventive, exciting action filmmaking to break up the monotony. Read full review
20
The GuardianStephen SnartJan 24, 2019
Each assassination sequence is so ridiculously protracted and inefficiently constructed that it would make a good running gag if the violence wasn’t the one thing the film seemed to take seriously. Read full review
12
RogerEbert.comPeter SobczynskiJan 25, 2019
A gross, stupid and relentlessly ugly film from start to finish, this may not be the absolute bottom of the barrel in terms of Netflix Originals but nothing else worthy of that title immediately springs to mind. Read full review
10
The New York TimesChris VognarJan 31, 2019
If Polar were a teenager, it might be content to chug Mountain Dew while playing first-person shooter games and trolling innocents online. Unfortunately, Polar is a movie, and if it has any redeeming qualities, it chooses to keep them a secret. Read full review
10
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleJan 24, 2019
Too bad the only thrill you get from all the bloodletting is that you know each cartoony death brings you that much closer to the end credits. Read full review
10
VarietyCourtney HowardJan 24, 2019
Gratuitous sex, gruesome torture, copious amounts of gore, and garish imagery populate the picture. Those qualities might be reason enough for some to watch, although a great many others would do well to scroll right past it on their Netflix feeds. Read full review
0
The PlaylistCharles BarfieldJan 24, 2019
It’s not tolerable as even basic movie sustenance, or adventurous cuisine, and it’s a f*cking revolting mess. Read full review
0
New York Magazine (Vulture)Emily YoshidaJan 23, 2019
If only the issue with Polar, Åkerlund’s fifth feature film, was merely shallowness. Polar is an execrable motion picture, a sad, lint-filled key bump scraped together from the bottom of the post-Tarantino ’90s exploitation baggie. Read full review
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