Whiteout : DVD Review



Title: Whiteout
Starring: Kate Beckinsale, Gabriel Macht, Tom Skerritt
Director: Dominic Sena
Released: 25th February 2010
Format: Blu-ray / DVD
Running time: 101 minutes

U.S. Marshal Carrie Stetko (Kate Beckinsale) is assigned to Antarctica. She has to investigate a murder. But only has three days to solve the puzzle before the Antarctic winter closes in and leaves them stranded for six long, cold, dark months.

White out was written by Jon & Erich Hoeber. It’s not particularly inspired stuff, whilst the direction by Dominic Sena (Gone in Sixty Seconds) is even less exciting. There never seems to be much sense of suspense. It’s difficult to care about Stetko as we know very little about her. We know barely anything about her life before she went to Antarctica apart from that her ex-partner tried to kill her because he was being paid to let one of their suspects go. She ended up killing him in self defence and apparently decided to go to Antarctica as some sort of punishment for herself.

This film seems to be a vehicle for Beckinsale as it has no one else that you could really count as an A list star in it. Beckinsale looks great, especially in her pants when entering the shower in an early scene. It looks great on Blu-ray. Beckinsale may be nearing 40 years of age but you’d never know it.

But getting back to more serious things, that’s the highlight of the film. The plot is some rubbish about finding some Russian loot lost in the snow and ice of Antarctica in the 1950s. And it’s obvious who the killer is from the beginning – which really doesn’t help with the element of suspense.

That said the film does look amazing on blu-ray. This is one of the best transfers that I’ve seen. The image is extremely clear and sharp and really looks almost like it’s in 3D – with so much depth in the visuals that you’ll almost feel as though you’re in Antarctica as well. Brrrrrr. Some people believe that an excellent image quality enhances a film – and here it really is true. It gains points purely for the fact it looks so good.

I’m not the biggest fan of who-dun-it suspense films so maybe I’m being a little hard on it. Give it a go see what you think. If you’re a fan of Beckinsale it might just be enough to keep you interested. I reckon I’d be fairly happy watching her read the phonebook to be honest.

Author : Kevin Stanley