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Although Sugar Mountain is marketed as a wilderness survival thriller, it is in reality more of a sweltering potboiler with a romantic fraud triangle. These aspects do not become more interesting over the course of Australian director Richard Gray’s feature, which is set in Alaska, and is rather polished and boring. He finds it hard to ever touch suspense or shatter emotional involvement. While the moderate marquee value of Jason Momoa and Cary Elwes might help smooth access to home markets, he only has one or two scenes in the drama. Still, there is little cause for excitement over this adequate drama.
The West brothers have lost their mother to lung cancer but inherited her business. They have set up a catering business for sporty guests in the titular port town resort. Unfortunately, they have been going under, the bank is auctioning the boat they depend on for overdue payments. The movie was primarily captured in the Seward of Alaska, which is a fishing port and loves the ocean.
Miles wishes he could stop time. Stages a crime. Miles not only has an outlandish plan to fix his financial troubles, but also turns out to be a master criminal. First class. For example, he plans to disappear into the frozen mountains with the help of his co-conspirator girlfriend Lauren and sell the miraculous survival tale to the media. This is how Miles wants to solve his financial woes, and if making money through media lies isn’t horrible enough, this plan annoys gentle soul Liam. In this case, Miles’ plans feel like an ice dagger cutting through his scruples. What’s worse, he has been secretly in love with Lauren. This is where the Vanished Miles Syndrome actually aids toward Miles’ publicity as he vanishes mid-hiking. Without a doubt, implanted Liam’s jealousy takes over sane Liam and this stage brother battle is a perfect distraction to cover for the murderous intentions.
Now for the fallout. This plan is mildly successful at first and everyone, including Lauren’s police chief father, chomps down on the hoax. To disguise the fact that Lauren’s father had set out searching parties into subzero temperatures. But soon reality sinks in. Reality can be a cruel mistress. In this particular case, cruel and annoyingly exact. Right off the bat, Miles gets in trouble for not paying a loan shark who incurs serious gambling debts. Or as we like to refer to it, the local character. This is all topped off by Liam and Laura’s lustful, the top sex and scene. To top it all off, things spiral out of control, and Miles’ claims of dire peril turn true.
Abe Pogos has an intricate screenplay. At first, it is set in Australia, and the world feels quintessential. However, Gray’s approach is ineffective in capturing the tragic weight of the unmercifully cruel fate familiarized in A Simple Plan or the dark comedy tone showcased in Fargo. Forged about ordinary people, and the fraudulent schemes that were deemed harmless but turned out to be far too harmful, these were the bare minimum films that executed this trope better than Bergman. Despite having an engaging plot, this matter seems somewhat sluggish, which is mildly disappointing since the tensions that build hardly do so. Not a lot of attention is provided to the wilderness Miles isolates himself in. To be fair, John Garrett’s scenery looks glorious through the widescreen lens. However, to the contrary, this is an action movie supercharged by arguments shot indoors.
The partial, anxious meeting with the bear is shockingly mundane. By the time Sugar Mountain bursts into life with a car chase and an extra character’s resurrection, the timing feels more of an allure than exciting. Aggravated more by soap-operatic revelation and heightened strain, this jumps right back to unbearable. While this is all meant to be executed with a bitter twist, Mountain fails to substantiate the depth required to pull it off.
Although the actors do a good job, there is a growing frustration towards the task of crafting multi-dimensional figures. However, to those watching for ‘Aquaman’ star Momoa, it will be disappointing to know that his villain, which is crucial to the plot, only participates in three or four scenes.
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