Movie review: Whiteout

by John P. Meyer

The first thing to say about Whiteout, the polar-set crime thriller from director Dominic Sena, is that it is, in fact, a crime thriller and not a monster movie -- as the promotional trailer for the film had led me and everyone else seated near me in the theater to suspect.

The next thing I should say is that -- judging by the reactions of my film critic buds -- I seem to have liked the picture better than anyone else in the room. (This suspicion was hammered home when I offered my opinion to the canvasser charged with getting audience reaction after the show. When I said "I liked it -- it was a pretty good thriller," she glanced at me oddly and said: "Really?")

So you might want to take this recommendation with a grain of salt, but I honestly rather enjoyed these creepy cold weather shenanigans.

"Creepy" because there's a murderer at large, and he's plying his trade at the bottom of the world in the most extreme weather conditions on the planet. U.S. Marshall Carrie Stetko (lithe, lovely Kate Beckinsale) might be the Antarctic outpost's only hope for a resolution to the mysterious killings, which seem to center on a remote geologists' camp. (It might not be giving too much away to note that the remote geologists are the first to go.)

To digress for a moment: The film begins with a gripping aerial gunfight aboard a Russian cargo plane in 1957. This scene sets the stylistic tone for a series of action sequences to follow, and it highlights a major weakness of the entire proceedings: The action segments, while frenetic and adrenaline-charged, are awfully hard to follow. (I mean, it's one thing to lose track of who's who when similarly ECW-clad figures are fighting it out with ice axes in a raging blizzard; but there's no reason we should struggle to tell who's shooting, and who's taking the bullet, in the temperate cabin of a cargo-laden aircraft.) We must assume that the filmmakers were attempting to emphasize the chaos of a close-quarters gun battle, using zoomed-in close-ups and disorienting quick cuts.

Success! This approach proves chaotic indeed. (Not to mention downright confusing.) As do forthcoming scenes involving parka-clad figures fighting it out with ice axes in raging blizzards. Which we're treated to several of.

Anyway, back to the present. Speaking of presents, Sena offers up a nice one in the form of a teasing Stetko/Beckinsale strip-down followed by one of those through-the-frosted-glass shower sequences that seem to be so essential to establishing the nubile grace and vulnerability of one's lead characters. At least, the sexy female ones.

As the entire South Polar Station prepares to switch out crews for the winter, Stetko receives notice that a body may have been spotted on the ice in the vast frozen interior. She enlists the aid of her good chum, kindly base doctor John Fury, a.k.a. "Doc" (Tom Skerritt), and newly-arrived pilot Delfy (Columbus Short), to accompany her to the site of the reported "popsicle."

When examined closely, the crumpled body on the ice reminds Stetko of an event from her past which hints at what may have led to her current bottom-of-the-world posting. Leading to a series of flashbacks which might hold a clue as to the kind of twisty surprise ending that might be in store for us. (Or not.)

Entering the picture near its midway point is a shadowy, somewhat hunky United Nations operative named Robert Pryce (Gabriel Macht). The U.N. has gotten wind of the frosty homicides and dispatched Pryce to make sure the carnage doesn't cause an international stink. (Not to worry: Nothing smells like much of anything at 55 below.) Pryce joins Stetko and Delfy for a quicky fact-finding mission to the geologists' camp, and thence to a suspicious grid coordinate that will lead them into (BUM! Bum! bummmm! ...) deadly danger.

(It is at this point in the narrative where we discover that the hinted-at monster-themed storyline is entirely without foundation. Along with the ice shelf our characters are standing on ...)

The rest of the 101 minutes of the movie are taken up with a) the hunt for the killer, who seems to be getting around from base to base rather handily, given the trackless wilderness; and b) the mystery of what might be motivating him (or her) to go about killing in the first place. Beckinsale's performance here is lacking in the sort of kick-butt approach she is wont to take towards adversaries. Marshall Stetko finds herself far more acted upon than acting, at least when it comes to physical altercations: She spends most of her time prostrate on the ice, gasping in dismay, as opposed to growling in spin-kicking victory. A shame she didn't have more of a chance (i.e., any chance at all) to unlimber the ol' Glock.

This all comes out sounding rather disappointing on paper, so I can only suppose that the reason I enjoyed the movie has as much to do with its extremely exotic setting as with the story elements. The Antarctic as presented here (fabricated through outstanding special effects) is such an alien and inhospitable place as to seem off-planet. There are airlocks to temper the inside environment of habitations against the outside cold, just as we see employed on spacecraft. Fixed ropes are strung from structure to structure, to which inter-facility commuters must tether themselves or risk disorientation and death. A single trip outside without one's gloves can lead to disastrous consequences -- as one of our characters gruesomely discovers. (Pass the sheep shears.)

Having not read the series of comics on which the film is based, I can only hope that those who have done so will chime in with a comment about whether the movie has done them justice.