Movie with Abe: Whiteout

Whiteout
Directed by Dominic Sena
Released September 11, 2009

In weather movies, it’s presumed that the weather is the villain. A race against time to avoid a monstrous natural disaster or tropical storm that threatens to wipe out the main characters should easily serve as the catalytic event for a film. Putting other bad guys in the way often results in pure stupidity (see NBC’s “Meteor”) and distracts from the primary plotline. After all, when Mother Nature threatens to wipe everyone out, who cares about a measly blackmail or murder case? There is one major movie from cinema history, however, which uses the weather as its launching event but features other prominent villains. “Whiteout” is no “Wizard of Oz.”

The notion of a killer running rampant in Antarctica is appealing, but there’s one very crucial factor the writers forgot to consider – the killer has no inherent advantage over anyone else. Unless this is supernatural fare, which it isn’t, the killer has no special powers or abilities that allow him to stay one step ahead of the law. He’s vulnerable to the same degree of cold weather and sun setting for six months as everyone else. The idea that this is the first murder in Antarctica is all hearsay, because there’s no way of knowing what deeds go on in one of the vastest, most unknown landscapes in the world. Those are merely the conceptual problems with the setup and premise of the film.

This is the fourth feature film from director Dominic Sena. It’s on exactly the same level of trashiness as previous entries “Swordfish” and “Gone in 60 Seconds,” though hardly as preposterousness or entertaining, respectively. It’s a shame that Sena couldn’t tap his impressive, frightening rendering of a serial killer from “Kalifornia” and bring some of that experience over to this film to enhance it. “Whiteout” is purely stupid and rarely the least bit thrilling. Chase scenes that are supposed to be terrifying are comical and all the twists, with one positive exception, can be seen coming from the first moments of the film. Kate Beckinsale is unable to anchor the movie, and it’s unfortunate that all of her supporting actors aren’t even as mediocre to poor as her. It’s the risk of setting a loosely-conceived story way outside of the scope of civilization – if things go wrong, there’s no one out there who can hear you scream, or save your movie.

F

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