Polar  ★★½

THE credits for Polar say it stars Mads Mikkelsen.

That’s kind of correct. As usual the Danish actor is great, but he seems to be in another film.

Mads gives the kind of brooding, dangerously engaging performance that you would expect from a Nordic thriller.

But the rest of the cast and director Jonas Akerlund were making a visually kinetic, garishly coloured, at times non-sensical rock opera of an action film.

While Mads always stands out, every other character fails to even though they are all written large and over-the-top, including British comedia Matt Lucas as an unconvincing villian more at home in an Austin Powers comedy.

This at times cartoonish mash-up of Suicide Squad, Face-Off and Damino is based on a graphic novel, ‘Polar: Came from the Cold’ written by Victor Santos.

For the most part it’s entertaining enough with some audacious visuals and sound design and punctuated throughout by implausibly violent sequences, usually involving multiple people emptying their guns into bodies.

But Mikkelsen is so good as veteran assassin Duncan Vizla, aka The Black Kaiser, you are constantly seeking more of that intense and focused film than the blood-splattered mayhem that keeps getting in the way.

Vizla is contracted by an international assassination company that employers killers around the World but insists they retire the day they turn 50 years-old. He is a week away from enjoying his final big retirement pay-out when two events occur.

Firstly, a fellow assassin and friend is murdered and, secondly, he receives one final assignment which he reluctantly accepts only after upping his contract price.

It turns out several assassins for the company that are nearing retirement age  are being targeted for death, including Vizla. I won’t reveal the reasons here, of course, but they turn out to be pretty lame and uninteresting.

Still, we have brooding Mads settling down to retirement in his log cabin in the snow with book and whisky in front of a nice fire seemingly unaware that a young death squad is about to descend.

There is also a love interest which doesn’t really go anywhere interesting apart from providing another reason for Mads to rip everybody apart with maximum force and efficiency.

The film has some quality action and occasionally the humour hits the mark, particularly with Vizla and his pets, but overall it’s too disjointed and haphazard in its approach to fully engage.

Swede Akerlund isn’t a director I’m familiar with. He is mainly known for a ton of video work for many of the biggest names in the music business. His previous films have been Spun, Horsemen, Small Apartments and Lords of Chaos.

Also in Polar’s cast are Katheryn Winnick from television’s Vikings and Johnny Knocxville and Richard Dreyfuss in cameos.