Whiteout had all the potential of being a unique whodunit or sci-fi thriller. In fact, I would have taken this movie and made it Alien on ice (derivative I know, but it could have worked with an audience that hasn’t seen Ridley Scott’s masterpiece and entertained those of us who have). Through some great shots, you do get a sense of isolation on the base in the middle of the vast Antarctic ice. Kind of like space, but more beautiful. Also, Tom Skerritt is in this film (you may remember him as Dallas, the captain of the Nostromo). But this setting, as well as Skerritt’s talent and Beckinsale’s onscreen charm, are wasted on a CSI-lite plot with a twist you can see coming miles away.
My expectations weren’t high for Whiteout (no one really went out to see it in the theaters, grossing about 12 mil domestic and internationally), but I pushed play, sat back and tried to enjoy it anyways. Save for the first few minutes, with the sweeping aerials and Beckinsale stripping down to her undies to take a shower, the rest is snore fest. After she’s done with her (all too brief if you ask me) shower, Carrie Stetko (Beckinsale) spends the rest of the film chasing a killer the audience already knows the identity of. I mean really, instead of a hot US Marshall, they could have sent a pothead and his equally stoned dog to find the killer and they would have been done in 20 minutes instead of 90.
Now I'm no Al Gore, but I do believe I know why the polar ice caps just started melting.
Another huge flaw with this movie is that director Dominic Sena feels the need to re-establish that it’s really, really cold in Antarctica, and with the impending storm, even more so. But then cut to the characters walking around in this really cold environment with their face fully uncovered (WTF?).
However, my biggest problem with Whiteout is it leaves a question I’ve had for a while unanswered still: can Kate Beckinsale act? Before you hastily answer no, I don’t think she’s had a role we can use to fairly assess her thespian chops. I want to give her the benefit of the doubt; a lot of pretty faces have come along and shown us there’s talent underneath their beauty. I can’t see any actress, talented or not, adding depth to Whiteout’s protagonist. So while I wait for Kate’s dare to be great role, I’ll continue to, ahem, amuse myself watching her run around as a vampire in skintight latex.
