Anything with Rutger Hauer is better than average thanks to his presence, and no exception here. In this one he's the bad guy, but good guy, character, meaning the misunderstood individualist. However, this aspect of the story is left unexplored. Hauer's a trapper in Alaska with a gang of moronic sidekicks who stumble upon a group of hunters and threaten to take some of their pelts. Hauer kills, with a thrown knife, one of the hunters who draws a gun, then his gang leave the others in the wild after destroying their truck motor, and of course the hunters die from exposure. So the local lawman is determined to get Hauer. In a situation where self defense could have been shown, the trappers let matters get way out of hand, then are determined to free Hauer from the grips of the law. During the escapades of getting Hauer to jail in Fairbanks, Hauer protests that he is only a misunderstood individual who's one with the wilderness. And the young man who takes the duty to deliver Hauer is conflicted about doing this. It seems that there were plot elements cut out because it would have been much more believable if Hauer had told his side of the killing to the lawman, which he never did. No explanation and no remorse just make him a bad character and it's tough to see why the lawman feels sympathy towards him. There's a whole subplot about evil oil company dealings that is unexplored and tough to figure out, and that's more of what was probably cut out, and somehow Hauer is involved against the oil company but that's also a missing plot piece. The producers needed to have had somebody with fresh eyes look at the film before they cut out certain plot developments that left the story less coherent than it should have been. Still it's above average and if you can fill in the holes yourself as I did, it will be a fine evening of viewing, and there's some really beautiful scenery.
