Spanish action film Below Zero (Spanish: Bajocero), directed by Lluís Quílez, is now streaming on Netflix and has so far garnered rave reviews. This gritty and suspenseful action thriller is a must-watch even though at first glance the plotline does not sound that interesting and eventually succeeds with great performances and a tight script that keeps us engaged throughout its runtime.

The film Below Zero follows a group of cops led by Officer Martin (Javier Gutiérrez) who is assigned to do a prisoner transfer of a few notorious criminals. Although it seems all a routine job of the cops, it is Martin’s first assignment after his transfer to a new district, while the bone-chilling winter night further elevates the possibility of the occurrence of any unfortunate events.

He gets to drive an armored prison transport truck following a patrol car, but things are about to take a turn. As expected, when the prisoner transfer van is attacked, Martin must fight to deal with the convicts inside the truck as well as the attacker from outside. At the same time, the night and icy cold weather would further make it worse for him and his partners responsible for transferring the prisoners.

Watch the trailer here for ‘Below Zero’ (Bajocero)

‘Below Zero’ Plot: When a prisoner transfer van is attacked, the cop in charge must fight those inside and outside while dealing with a silent foe: the icy temperatures.

Below Zero is one of those films that is thin in a script, but the direction makes it much better by building enough elements of tension. While we might get some sense of the things that could be the cause of someone attacking a prison transfer vehicle, for the most part, it remains a guessing game. Also, the reason that most of the drama or action takes place in and around the prison van, the experience becomes even more claustrophobic.

Of course, there are no such high-end or complex action sequences, still, the film plays out really well. Characterization-wise, probably, this could have been better if there were more background, but again the performance of Javier Gutiérrez as police officer Martin and Luis Callejo as Ramis (one of the convicts) are all praiseworthy to keep us glued to the screen until the final few minutes. Overall, the film is fun to watch.