Whiteout (2009)

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

You know the feeling when you or your kid drops their ice cream on the ground and it goes Ker-Plop? That describes my reaction to this film... Kate is on auto-pilot here and is not believable as a US Marshal assigned to these frigid climes...particularly when being pursued in wintry wasteland all covered with snow. Too much reliance on CSI-type scenes where we are face first thrust into medical examination procedures. Tom Skerritt was well cast as Doc and fits right into the lost outpost scenes - the same scenario he was in way back when with the first Alien film (1979) and even the M.A.S.H. movie (1970) that preceded the TV series. Speaking of M.A.S.H. I can't remember another example where the public address announcer is assigned with such a key role as is demonstrated in Whiteout. You can't help but notice this voice-over technique employed to build tension. Eventually it became humorous which was not the desired impact. But watch it for the effortless and believable Tom Skerritt.

I should have trusted the reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. After watching this really boring film, I realized why it got 7% from the critics on Rotten Tomatoes. Kate Beckinsale doesn't fit into the role of a US Marshall at all, no offense but it's like getting Whoopi Goldberg to play the role as a fashion model wearing a bikini for a photo shoot on a beach in a movie. Her role as the US Marshall was never convincing at all and it's hard to image why her character was there in the first place. I really thought it was going to be a good thriller but the film seems to be dragging on without much action most of the time and I was losing my focus easily. If you still choose to watch it, prepare to be bored most of the time during the movie.

People have commented on the beautiful shots of the colorful sky, so I suppose there were a few instances of good cinematography in the movie. However, in my opinion, most of the cinematography, editing and art direction sucked. First of all, it was filmed in Canada. Was there even one scene filmed in Antarctica? I'm sure Antarctica has beauty of it's own separate from Canada (I've been to both), but one wouldn't know it from this film, as it was Antarctica in fantasy only. As people have pointed out, where were the penguins? Where were the walruses?What bothered me most about the art direction of this movie was the many scenes where one couldn't hardly see anything. Either snow storm, or dark rooms lit by a little flashlight, or just a scene with hardly anything showing, most of the movie seemed to be on such a low budget that they didn't having anything in the back of the scene to show!Others have pointed out the limitations of this movie, so I won't repeat that. I agree with them wholeheartedly.

As an example of how much I wanted to like it, I hate cop movies and cop shows - so I was working hard to appreciate this one.**POSSIBLE SPOILER HERE** The other reviewers have hit many nails on the head, but the nail in the coffin for me was a stupid character choice with no possible motive.After the first action scene, the "suspicious cop" wants them to leave a location to go investigate a science station - right after the protagonist has been attacked by a murderer! This is without a doubt one of the stupidest and least-convincing character decisions I've ever been asked to buy into. Bad guy kills other guy with an ice ax, tries to kill female Marshall - and is presumably still on location (since there wasn't an extra plane on their arrival that is now missing) and the cop shows no interest in investigating...Still better than reality TV, but man oh man.M