'Below Zero (2021)' is a thriller in which a prison transport bus is attacked by a mysterious stranger, leaving its passengers - a police officer and the inmates he's transporting - trapped inside. It's a straightforward sort of thing but it does exactly what it needs to, proceeding at a fairy propulsive pace and providing several engaging action scenes. It's often exciting and suspenseful, with a variety of enjoyable set-pieces, and it comes together in a satisfying way that blurs the line between right and wrong. It's a little predictable, but that doesn't matter too much. Neither does the fact that it features a few logical inconsistencies. It's an entertaining experience from start to finish. 7/10

Martin is a police officer who has been tasked with driving in a prisoner transfer operation; he will be accompanied by Montesino, an officer he hasn't worked with before. Their armoured truck will be accompanied by two more officers in a car. The convicts are a mixed group; some are considered dangerous, others are just petty criminals. As the vehicles drive through the fog on a remote forest road they are ambushed. As a sniper opens fire Martin is forced to take cover in the rear of the vehicle. Here he is overpowered by the prisoners. The attacker enters the vehicle cab but can't get to the prisoners... his motives are unknown but he states that he will kill everybody if one prisoner isn't handed over. A tense standoff ensues as he drives to an even more isolated location where we will finally learn why he is doing what he is doing.

I thought this was a really impressive thriller; it nicely combines tropes from prison break movies, revenge movies and even disaster movies; most of the time within the confines of the prison transport. This created a great claustrophobic atmosphere. There is tension from the moment the journey gets underway and it rapidly mounts after the ambush. It quickly becomes clear that not everybody will survive and some of the deaths are quite brutal. The cast is solid; making the characters believable even in the more extreme moments. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to anybody wanting an exciting thriller who doesn't demand explosions and multiple exotic locations; just a cracking story.

These comments are based on watching the film in Spanish with English subtitles.

I do love me a good mid-budget thriller and haven't really seen all that many since the glory days of the likes of POINT BLANK, SLEEPLESS NIGHT and MEA CULPA. The good news is that BELOW ZERO very nearly equals the quality of those movies; it's a highly suspenseful and engaging little movie in which the devil's in the details. Not a huge cast or complex story here, just realistic characters you grow to understand and twists and turns that keep on coming. The level of peril is constantly high, the director clearly knows what he's doing, and the ending is surprisingly affecting. Good stuff!