Nice effects though.
The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.
View MoreI am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible
View MoreThere are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.
View MoreThe very clever thing about this picture is that Reinout Oerlemans got so much money for making it, and so much praise for having made it, when - as seen by the result - he had no idea what he was doing. If he actually did direct the performance of the actors, he steered them in the wrong direction. From the looks of it, he just let them do whatever they could think of. Many a time not the best way to go. Reinout seemingly never watched a technically good production, as aired daily on televisions around the world, because technically this film is a dud. Lighting is very much below par. Dutch films of the seventies got away with it, maybe even eighties. But nowadays this is a big no no. As far as editing it concerned: I don't know what stake Reinout had in that part of the post production process, but it is worse than any amateur could have done. Maybe I am too close to this subject, being an editor myself. But someone with some sense should have stopped this senseless shredding of scenes. So: no directing of actors, no directing of cutting, and no directing of lighting are the obvious drawbacks that immediately catch your eyes. In fact, this picture scores so badly on these points, that I too could not keep watching. Too bad, because the story itself has all the hallmarks of a great picture.
View MoreI've just watched this film at home. On my own in my home cinema. Lights out, 50" screen, DTS 5.1 at 65 Db and in the moment. I knew about the story and I wanted to know how director Oerlemans would tell this story. But I was afraid I was going to be disappointed.Well, I was not. Totally not. I was there the whole movie...Knowing they had 'only' 7.000.000 to spend, this movie looks very good. I would easily compare the look and the quality of this movie to most Hollywood films, for which they spend more than $100.000.000.The special effects look good. The ship looks very real. You can feel the cold they are in. The sound effects and the sound design are very good. The score is beautiful. The acting was good. The picture is very sharp. And I would believe that every shot was filmed there on the spot. Sure there were some miner mistakes. Sure the little fox/wolf didn't look real enough. But that's not reason to make it seem this movie is worthless.I think this is a very good dutch movie that deserves more than 6 stars. Director Reinout Oerlemans: Thank you and good job.
View MoreNova Zembla doesn't hold up to the promises made. In fact, it fails utterly, which, truly, is a shame. An adventurous story, a beautiful setting and (for Dutch standards) good acting but all that cannot make watching this film bearable.The storytelling is unbelievably slow. While being promised an action-packed heroic story it instead halts drastically every time a little climax should be due, resulting in the opposite. And if your film is to be made for a Dutch audience based on a classic Dutch history lesson almost every Dutch person will remember, you just can't get away with it. Not even with showing random scenes of Doutzen Kroes' breasts.The cast was fine though and the acting wasn't particularly bad. The lines didn't seem forced and it all had a genuine feel, which is often lacking in Dutch films. The technical side of this film wasn't bad either and the effects, costumes, locations and props are a rare perfect blend.It is clear this film lacked the experience of a great captain and should be a learning opportunity for inexperienced director Reinout Oerlemans. Nova Zembla fails to hoist the colours and sail full speed ahead and instead feels more like a rowing boat without oars. A typical trailer-beats-film.
View MoreFirstable I thought this will be a typical dutch movie when I ordered a ticket to watch this movie with a load sex etc in it.When I start watching it in the cinema, it became clearly that it's an different style of movie. It was clearly about our own history and nothing more, but be aware that you know something about our history to know what's happening about it. Even there aren't big acting stars in it, but that's making the movie more realistic and of course it's an tribute to those heroes which have been trying it to reach the far east via the north of Nova Zembla (the first ship who was able to was invented in 1932 by an Russian ship)It's absolutely worth to watch.
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