Whiteout

Beckinsale steams up the screen in this frigid thriller
The studios seemed unsure on how to market this movie and the punchline of being the coldest movie ever filmed hardly inspired confidence in the Antarctica-set thriller and the movie quickly vanished from movie screens. That it did not get an audience could also be explained by the fact that the film never quite identified itself in its marketing material. Was it a paranormal thriller? Was it a horror movie? Was it a psychological thriller? The truth be told it was none of these and was probably closest in structure and narrative to a western.
The plot revolves around a research station in the Antarctic that is prepping for a hibernation period where a skeleton crew keep things runnning through the Antarctic winter. A body is discovered on the ice and it is down to a U.S. Marshall (played competently by the always watchable Kate Beckinsale) to piece together the mystery of precisely what happened. The mystery is tied to a missing Cold War era Soviet Union plane that crashed into...

Kate stays bundled up...well, most of the time
I didn't quite know what to expect when I sat down in the theater today to watch Whiteout. The trailers led me to believe it would be some sort of supernatural type film set in Antarctica, but I wasn't really sure if it was just the weather that would be the evil force or some sort of creature. It was none of the above. Whiteout is really just a typical thriller/mystery that happens to occur on the coldest land mass in the world. It involves some murders back in 1957 and few more in present day that Kate's character investigates. Within the first ten minutes you get the gorgeous Kate Beckinsale stripping down to her undies (always a good thing), but I didn't expect that to be the films only true highlight. Other than her obvious use in that particular scene, I can't believe they casted a good looking woman only to cover her up from head to toe and in multiple layers for the last 90 minutes. Not to mention a giant snow hat on her head. Anyways, most of the acting was okay I guess. Kind...

Not Bad, Not Great but Kate is So Beautiful...
I originally saw this film, about murder and mayhem at a scientific station at the South Pole, on HBO and was a bit disapponted. I picked it up on blu-ray and watched it again and enjoyed it more the second time. The film based on a graphic novel is interesting but does have its flaws. The fight scenes out in the cold are okay, but it is difficult to tell who everyone is and as a result the suspense is diluted. Furthermore the macguffin of the mysterious cargo that men are dying and killing for is, once revealed, a distinct disappointment. The sets are very nicely designed and the scenes at the South Pole, (actually filmed at Lake Manitoba in Canada,) are beautiful
But the really most beautiful thing in this film is Kate Beckinsale. I found her absolutely gorgeous in "Pearl Harbor." My opinion didn't change in the "Underworld" films or the disappointing "Van Helsing." I think she is one of the prettiest actresses in films and can even make a burnt-out U.S. Federal Marshal...

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