POLAR RESCUE Review: Donnie Yen Is The Reluctant Hero We Don’t Deserve In Lo Chi-Leung’s Unsettling Rescue Drama

Polar Rescue lands on digital and blu-ray beginning March 26 from Well Go USA.

With decades of imprinting himself onto martial arts film fans in his wake, actor Donnie Yen has accrued more than enough wiggle room in his work space to drop the occasional non-action gem for more audiences. It definitely contributes something more versatile to his career, in my view. Like his peers, he’s a talented actor who adds a good deal of depth to many of his roles, doling out decent performances and making the most of each project he’s on, and that especially goes for his latest mainland release from director Lo Chi-Leung, Polar Rescue, also known regionally as Comeback Home.

Directed by Lo from a script he co-penned, Polar Rescue delves into something way more than the trailers mostly insinuate, which is signature of a damn good trailer editor (something Hollywood tends to suffer from the lack of on occasion). Aside from its more prominent profile as a harrowing rescue drama, Lo takes the time to carve out something more chilling and introspective in the process. From what starts out as a fun family getaway at a ski resort that escalates into a desperate search for a missing child, the story further spotlights a family mired in crisis – one further exacerbated by public controversy, and a marriage that now stands as a shadow of the fairytale happy ending it was once prospected as.

The impasse begins unfolding as A’De (Yen), a building contractor and family man on a ski resort getaway with loving wife Minxuan (Cecilia Han), finds their car trapped in the snow while on the road with their two children. The oldest, eight-year old Lele (Yuan Minhui), insists they go to the nearby lake where he promised his friends he would take photos of a mythical monster. After being told to stay in the car so A’De and Minxuan can try and get it moving, a restless and impatient Lele decides to take his frustrations out on a wayward deer, before efforting to stop an oncoming car by standing midway in the road, causing a near-miss as A’De dives and snatches him out of harm’s way.

It’s far from a lesson learned for Lele, however, who decides to lash out before getting excoriated and slapped by an exasperated A’De just after apologizing to the other motorist. The film cuts to A’De and Minxuan driving their daughter (played by Ai Rui) to a nearby business to use the bathroom, dropping them off before he drives back solo to retrieve Lele at a remote cabin, presumably after leaving him there as punishment for his behavior, and I say “presumably” because the movie doesn’t show us what happened until later on in a short series of flashbacks. As A’De calls out to Lele, absolving him for their earlier contretemps, Lele is nowhere to be found. Seconds turn into minutes, and in grueling fashion, those minutes turn into long, cold hours, eventually spanning days A’De and Minxuan join up with local law enforcement and a national search-and-rescue force to comb the wilderness until they find Lele.

The drama serves a heavy-handed entree of multiple facets with A’De at the forefront of it all. To start, I’d be lying if I didn’t point out how difficult it was to empathize with Lele, whose irkesome tantrums, outward disrespect and taciturn attitude sculpt nothing short of a bratty child. Interestingly enough, there’s a scene later in the film that reimagines the aftermath of the aforementioned spat ending on a lighter note, which is intended to contextualize a more sobering feeling of regret through a “what if?…” lens. Instead, it conveys more about a character that could have been written better and more sympathetically than what we’re left with in Lo’s movie.

There are just a few other mechanical setbacks about Polar Rescue that make the film slightly more trying at times to endure. Still, the film makes a healthy effort to stand on its narrative forefront, putting Yen in the driver’s seat as a father willing to risk life and limb to brave mother nature, save his son, and possibly his marriage. From slipping down snowy hillsides, battling his share of concussions, wading into cold rivers, and marching through blistering temperatures for hours non-end, to staring down a deadly avalanche, curious grizzly bears (no, he doesn’t kung fu-fight the damn thing), and treading thin sheets of ice to cross dwindling terrain at the risk of drowning, there’s nothing A’De won’t do, even at the risk of hampering the rescue squad at times. It’s kind of a meta moment for him to as a character trait that kind of matches Lele’s, which is almost endearing.

A’De does all of this, even while forced to contend with his own guilt, blaming himself for losing track of Lele, while mitigating the insouciance of local police officer Qian (Jia Bing), as well as Minxuan’s own pain and suffering. It gets even worse though, as a local woman’s social media push to help find the boy spawns into a media firestorm that engulfs A’De and his family, prompting scorn on the already grief-stricken father by both the viewing public, as well as the search-and-rescue force as it withers on resources and manpower to deal with the fierce weather conditions. Adding to the upheaval is when A’De is cornered by a gang of extortionists, resulting in an outnumbered scuffle before police arrive.

Like many of Yen’s films, Polar Rescue succeeds in painting a worthy protagonist to root for in our lead star. To this end, the film falls short of the visual imagery and ample scripting to depict A’De as imperfect a father as he is predetermined to be, and in many scenes where he’s fingered as a man at fault for a lot of wrongdoing that happens in the film, particularly when Deputy police director Gao (Xu Guangyu) gets involved. It’s a hard pill to swallow, namely when the script conveys a judgemental public quick to write off A’De as an abusive father who deserves to hurt more than anyone else, namely at the behest of search-and-rescue workers, as well as the son of a deceased family member who blames A’De, punching him, even. It’s almost surreal to take in at first as the latter takes place in a scene after which A’De awakens from a coma, and a wide lens follows him down the hall of a hospital with bystanders staring daggers at him, including one injured search and rescue worker throwing a fit in the process. The incident pushes A’De to the brink, almost to the point of suicide.

The movie culminates its delivery with themes of self-sacrifice, redemption and the undying human spirit – one albeit celebrated through song in a moment where the tired rescue workers choir up for their version of “Bella Ciao”. Notwithstanding its sentiments here, these are largely overshadowed by its attempts to flesh out a deeper-layered look into the troubled setting between A’De and Minxuan. Much of it is merely applied or suggestive as the story progresses, and you’re simply left to rely on the script and the performances to take what you can in this regard for Lo’s endeavors in this movie. The result is a more feasible pucture of the decidua of ire that A’De has to contend with from the rescue workers, the media, and even Minxuan as she begins at one point to reconsider her priorities in heartbreaking fashion.

Polar Rescue is a less-than-rosy testament of a family faced with impeccable odds. On its face, Yen leads a harrowing story that will have you rooting for a happy ending right down to the end credits. Intermittently, Lo’s tale presents a damning take on a version of humanity that certainly fails to see a beleagured father’s humanity, an aspect of Polar Rescue that weighs as a threat even greater than the snowstorm our character faces. To that end, the movie deliniates adequately how messy life is, even one for a flawed father who does his best, even when others say or imply that his best ain’t good enough. It’s a pretty condemning picture this film lays out, and feels like message that says more about most of humanity than just one man, and that’s one hell of a storm to have to weather.