Whiteout

Starring: Kate Beckinsale, Tom Skerrit, Columbus Short, Gabriel Macht

Synopsis:

United States Marshall Carrie Stetko haunted by the memories of a fatally botched arrest and wrestling with the decision to leave the Marshall’s service is Marshall in residence at the U.S research base Antarctica. A guaranteed quiet posting, sorting out minor issues and bureaucratic procedures for the Scientists and assorted engineers and pilots. Everything should be winding down for her, until a body turns up out in the snow. A body which appears to be Antarctica’s first murder victim.

The investigation leads them to an even more shocking discovery. Someone has been excavating something from under the ice, a buried secret which may have international consequences.

Trouble is, winter is rapidly approaching and there are only a couple more days in which transport off Antarctica will be possible. The Winter storms will ground all flights and anyone still around will be stuck there for three months.

Stetko together with her friend and mentor the Scientist Dr. John Fury, Delphy a pilot and Robert Pryce a United Nations special investigator, with higher authority and unclear motives, must uncover the circumstances of the death and the mystery under the ice quickly, and it seems that someone will go to murderous lengths to stop them...

Review:

Antarctica’s vast emptiness and loneliness sets a perfect scene for this crime mystery. The open snowfields and mountains seen from the transport planes are beautiful and photographed skilfully. It is breathtaking, but at the same time you know it is lethal. A place that cannot support life. A place where without the correct clothing you are dead in less than an hour.

This thought-provoking emptiness where the mystery body was found, miles from any sign of hope, is skilfully contrasted with the Base interiors which could be any Lab, any bunk room, any Mess Hall or Galley in the world we know. In fact this separation between the two worlds does so much for the story as the storm descends and the body count begins to rise. Outside becomes a place where you can barely walk. And if you don’t wear safety lines, the wind will drag you out to a frozen hell where you won’t be found.

Inside becomes a sinister world of shadows, increasingly empty as the researchers leave for Winter, where assailants could be hiding around every corner.

Between these two worlds there is no refuge as Stetko searches for the truth, gradually losing trust in her companions and eventually herself.

Extreme environments and impending disaster, however, are not enough to sustain plot for very long, no matter how good the performances. And they are very good. Macht’s good humoured UN man and the amiable Short as the laid back pilot bond well and keep up an amusing buddy buddy thing. Kate Beckinsale’s tough but troubled Marshall is believable and likeable which is a rare gem in Hollywood action female leads.

But the icing on the cake is the twists. Like in any good Mystery there are several elements which keep you guessing until right at the end and several complete blind allies.

Stetko’s traumatic memories of the ‘bust that went bad’ add a depth of feeling to her. We only see fragments at a time, and as the full details are slowly revealed, her current state of fragility and paralysis make more and more sense.

The true nature of the buried artefact is so contested, as an integral part of the plot, that you can never be sure until the final reel. And the identity and motives of the unknown murderer sets your mind to thinking allsorts of possibilities.

The life and death fight scenes, especially those in the ‘Whiteout’ conditions of the Antarctic storm are frenetic and terrifying. The assailant is no expert, skill is largely offset by crazed energy, think Matthiew Amalric in Quantum of Solace. And Stetko’s retaliation is the quick, economical, professional style of U.S Law enforcement types we are all so familiar with. No fancy high kicking here, just a determination and a two handed grip on the firearm.

So, no Oscars here I suspect. But this film deserves respect for everything I’ve mentioned, and one or two things I haven’t, like tight direction, the story brews slowly and builds with perfect pace. The very best is made of the locations both inside and out and Director John Sena uses every suspense and shock trick in the book well and with care.

The script is refreshingly short on snappy gags, and one liners and instead focuses on advancing a complex plot while keeping the characters real.

Verdict:

It works, and it works well. Like any Mystery I do wonder if Whiteout would sustain interest on a second viewing, and to be honest I think it would at least once, as much on Cinematography as on plot.

A neat Mystery story, done well.

6 out of 10 (Sulaco)

Read MikeOutWest's review of Whiteout, here.

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