Siberia (2018), starring Keanu Reeves, has several strong elements, but also several significant problems. The film is about 40% romance, 30% crime thriller and 30% moody, brooding scenes that move at a glacial pace. The romantic interest is played by Ana Ularu, who played the ruthless and remorseless assassin in Inferno (2016).
Ularu is more of a chickflick heroine than a Bond girl. She's attractive in a girl-next-door sort of way, not like a fashion model or femme fatale. Feminine, but not voluptuous or statuesque. Young (32) but not so young that a romance with Keanu Reeves (53) seems scandalous. She has a look that women can admire without feeling threatened. If the role had been cast with an actress resembling a young Jane March, still 19 from her role in L'amant (The Lover) (1992), the dynamic would have been entirely different. Sammy Sanchez described Jane's look thusly, "Jane radiantly rocks this effortless belted neutral shift with a pair of braids and a classic straw boater hat for a classic combination that is both timeless and Lolitaesque without being for lack of a better word, hobaggish." By contrast, Ularu's Katya is initially seen in frumpy, oversized men's work clothes and boots, although she later appears in full flash and glitter for an ugly duckling / swan transformation. The audience can instantly understand the fascination and obsession that Jane March's unnamed young girl inspired in L'amant, and Rose incited among various characters in The Color of Night (1994). By contrast, the filmmakers did everything possible to make Katya seem ordinary, unappealing and standoffish, even giving her a fiancé and an overly protective brother with several very large friends. For Keanu's Lucas to put his marriage on the shelf, ignore his perilous circumstances and his partner's recent defalcation, defy Katya's imposing and threatening extended family and the exigency of his business in Siberia, he needs a compelling reason to find Katya more than attractive and truly fascinating. Instead, we get mildly provocative unexpected one-liners. Do you think I've never seen a penis before? If I asked you to sleep with me, would you?
Perhaps this is the fate of celluloid romances in an era dominated by #MeToo, the PC Gestapo and feminazis. Characters once played by Mae West, Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, Brigitte Bardot and Raquel Welch are considered politically incorrect. Barbarella's Jane Fonda has become an outspoken feminist. Self-anointed experts, who apparently don't consider Zulu Chief Shaka a real warrior, complain that real warriors don't dress like the Amazons in Wonder Woman (2017). Lucas is expected to fall hopelessly in love with Katya because she is a strong, independent woman, who doesn't need to dress sexy to attract men, and decides if and when she will have sex. There are several sex scenes, although most are more-or-less fully clothed, including a slightly kinky bros-before-hos scene with four participants and several casual observers.
For various reasons, the romantic story never seems credible.
Unfortunately, the crime thriller doesn't make any more sense than the romance. There's two MacGuffins - one real, the other fake. It's not clear who has the real one or what financial impact it has on Lucas or why the gangsters are ready to kill him and others for merchandise they haven't paid for. Understanding the plot would probably require viewing the movie about three times, but it isn't sufficiently interesting to warrant a second viewing.
Performances are good, particularly by some of the supporting cast. Production design is more than adequate to make Canada look like Siberia. Some of the cinematography is quite good, while many shots are marred by reliance on jiggly-cam, which shatters the willful suspension of disbelief and constantly reminds the audience they are viewing the action through the lens of a camera. The film often drags. Motivations are unclear. Consequently, the characters are not very interesting or sympathetic.
