THE STORY – A woman, travelling alone through snowbound northern Minnesota, interrupts the kidnapping of a teenage girl. Hours from the nearest town and with no phone service, she realizes that she is the young girl’s only hope.
THE CAST – Emma Thompson, Judy Greer, Marc Menchaca, Laurel Marsden, Gaia Wise, Cuan Hosty-Blaney, Dalton Leeb, Paul Hamilton, Lloyd Hutchinson & Brían F. O’Byrne
THE TEAM – Brian Kirk (Director/Writer), Nicholas Jacobson-Larson & Dalton Leeb (Writers)
THE RUNNING TIME – 97 Minutes
It is a bit jarring to see two-time Academy Award winner Emma Thompson in a snow-filled, ice-cold environment, and even more so when she speaks in a thick Minnesotan accent reminiscent of Marge Gunderson from “Fargo.” Thompson, who also produced the film, is someone we usually associate with period dramas or dialogue-heavy roles in which her natural accent shines through. But in the new Minnesota-set mystery/thriller “Dead of Winter,” she plays a character who is unlike anything we have seen from her before. Even though her last lead role in 2022’s “Good Luck To You, Leo Grande” was a departure, this is a complete reinvention: Thompson has little dialogue, instead relying on physicality and silence to carry the story. Directed by Brian Kirk, “Dead of Winter” follows a woman traveling alone through snowbound northern Minnesota who stumbles upon the kidnapping of a teenage girl and realizes she is the girl’s only hope of survival.
The film begins with Barb (Thompson) driving to a remote lake in the middle of a snowstorm. She has no cell service, it is unsafe to travel, and she is completely alone, but she is determined to scatter her late husband’s ashes on the lake where they had their first date. Her plans are derailed when she interrupts the abduction of a teenager named Leah (Laurel Marsden). Soon, Barb finds herself caught between grief and danger, forced to rely on her resourcefulness and wilderness know-how to protect Leah. The kidnappers, credited only as “purple lady” (Judy Greer) and “man in camo” (Marc Menchaca), pursue them with chilling determination, and the snowbound setting becomes a character in itself.
From the moment we see blood on the snow, which Menchaca’s character insists is from a deer, the tension is palpable. The suspense builds steadily, though it occasionally loses momentum during flashbacks to Barb’s younger years (played by Thompson’s daughter Gaia Wise). These scenes, which explore Barb’s romance and loss with her husband Carl, are meant to deepen the narrative but clash tonally with the taut present-day storyline. Thompson’s performance is so expressive and layered that the film does not need these diversions; her face alone tells us everything about Barb’s grief and resilience.
What truly anchors the movie is Thompson’s physical, at times heartbreaking performance. It is not easy for a 66-year-old actress to take on such grueling, weather-beaten work, but Thompson approaches it with grit, humor, and grace. Barb is a wonderfully likable heroine, practical, determined, and occasionally funny, with her PG-friendly “Marge Gunderson-coded” quips, such as “frickin’ fiddlesticks” and “c’mon, you stinker.” Thompson embraces the challenge entirely, delivering an action-driven turn reminiscent of Liam Neeson’s late-career reinvention, yet with her own distinctive vulnerability.
Her warmth stands in sharp contrast to Greer’s terrifying “purple lady,” a lollipop-sucking, rifle-toting sociopath who dominates every scene she is in. It is an unexpected turn for Greer, especially after her recent empathetic work in “The Long Walk.” Menchaca, meanwhile, plays her subdued husband with nuance, capturing both the physical toll of the wilderness and the moral conflict of being complicit in Leah’s abduction. Marsden’s Leah largely screams and trembles, the typical “kidnapped teen” role, but she is intentionally secondary to Barb’s journey.
It is easy to wonder why Thompson would take on such a punishing role at this point in her career, but it is also thrilling to see her stretch into new territory. Accent? Nailed. Action chops? Surprisingly strong. Even with some clichéd dialogue like, “You do not have to do this,” she makes it believable. The finale, though slightly overextended, culminates in hauntingly beautiful underwater imagery shot by Christopher Ross (“Shōgun“), providing both catharsis and poetry.
For Brian Kirk, this is only his second feature after 2019’s “21 Bridges,” but his assured direction pairs seamlessly with Thompson’s committed performance. The screenplay, by newcomers Nicholas Jacobson-Larson and Dalton Leeb, is imperfect, weighed down by flashbacks and a few plot holes, but largely tight and suspenseful. The biggest surprise, though, is the score: Oscar-winner Volker Bertelmann (“All Quiet on the Western Front“) provides a pulsating, string-heavy composition that intensifies the icy tension, echoing his work on last year’s “Conclave.”
While some aspects of the plot are predictable, the film poses a compelling question: what would you do in Barb’s situation? She risks her life for a stranger while carrying the weight of her own grief. At its core, “Dead of Winter” is less a thriller than an intimate survival story, one that explores resilience, morality, and the quiet power of ordinary people who step up when no one else can. Without Thompson, it would be a solid genre exercise. With her, it becomes something far more impactful: a showcase of endurance, empathy, and the kind of heroine we rarely see in action films – resourceful, untrained, yet deeply human.
