31 October,2009 08:24 AM IST | | Bryan Durham
What's it about: This story has little going for it apart from an audience that may or may not be aware of the comic book series that inspired the film.
About a US Marshall Carrie Stetko (Kate), who's in a dead-end two-year job at a base in Antarctica, Whiteout begins at a time close to whenu00a0 Carrie is due to go the mainland as a six-month-long winter begins and the entire continent becomes inaccessible.
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A dead body is found in the ice and Carrie being the only law enforcer finds herself caught up in a search for a killer.
Now that should have been relatively easy, considering the population at the base (hence, a smaller number of possible suspects) but the film manages to stretch on at a deathly pace for around two hours as Carrie chases down suspects and ends up losing two fingers to frostbite when left out to die.
She returns to base and resumes investigation and comes across something startling.
What's hot: When you're in a location that rarely sees the sun and has frequent visitors in blizzards known as whiteouts, the only thing that can shine through are the performances or the landscape itself. The gratitious shower sequence is probably the hottest thing you're going to get from the film.
What's not: With adaptations, you get just one shot. No second chances. You either get it right or you don't. Unfortunately, this one belongs to the latter category.
Having read the B&W comic book of the same name by Greg Rucka and Steve Lieber, the film is something of a disappointment. The characters rarely rise above the script.
The director appears to have slept on the job. While the graphic novel itself had its tense moments, the melancholy doesn't quite come across in the flick. While Kate Beckinsale is way hotter than the comic's heroine Carrie Stetko, she has none of her grit.
Also, it wasn't quite sensible to go with a guy for the UN investigator considering the real catalyst in the story was the woman in the novel. Also, Carrie's backstory and the reason why she chose to be stationed in Antarctica has been substantially altered, and this reason seems even weaker than the original one.
Also, the other major characters in the story (a wild-eyed bunch going by the illustrations) look surprisingly well groomed in the film for a place like the cold continent.
What to do: Thrillers thrive on the element of suspense. You guess who the killer is, way too soon. After that, it's all downhill. it becomes less of a whodunit and more of a whydunit.
Whiteout
A; Thiller
Dir: Dominic Sena
Cast: Kate Beckinsale, Tom Skeritt, Gabriel Macht
''
Whiteout At a theatre near you
Inox Nariman PT (10 am, 4.25 pm);
PVR PHOENIX (1.45, 6.30, 11.35 pm);
Sterling (10 am, 5.45 pm),
Metro Big (11 pm);
Imax Big (1.20 pm);
PVR Juhu (12.35, 7.10, 11.25 pm);
Cinemax Versova (11 am, 9 pm);
Fame Big (2, 11.45 pm);
PVR Goregaon (10.05, 2.50, 11.30 pm);
Movietime Goregaon (12.30, 8.45 pm);
Fame Malad (10.15 am, 8.25 pm)
