[3.75/10] Whiteout (2009)

Whiteout (2009)

Short review: "Whiteout" begins with a clever setup and even more interesting location: the bottom of the world! However, after the arresting opening aboard a Russian transport plane in 1957, the story reveals itself to be a rather clichéd exercise in futility. A lot happens in the story, but it's all artificial, uninteresting or unbelievable. The acting throughout is competent, but the cast have little to work with. Dialogue is functional, existing to further the plot and providing essentially no characterisation, much less character development, for anyone but the lead. Kate Beckinsale's character backstory is dealt with through an increasingly repetitive sequence of CSI-ish flashbacks that mercifully end around the half-way mark and which predictably explain the heroine's icy response to her partner. This iciness ends abruptly about a scene later. "Whiteout" is a mess. The whodunnit plot is bolted, crudely, to a setting which is largely irrelevant, and is simply not told well. There are a few moments of visual splendour, but not enough to elevate the movie from the mediocrity it provides.

• My Rating: 3.75/10
• Rotten Tomatoes: 06% (3.4/10)
• IMDb: 5.3/10