Search - Whiteout on DVD

Deidra C. (Deidra670) from GARRETT, KY
Reviewed on 11/14/2010...

WHITEOUT has nearly taken the edge off my pre-Christmas cheer! There's just so much snow and ice and death. I want to lie on a beach somewhere, extremely warm, to recoup.

Kate Beckinsale is the lone U.S. Marshall assigned to Antarctica, a bleak and humorless prospect. She's on the run from dealing with a drug bust gone bad along with a partner who tried to kill her. What better way to hide from your past, then going to Antarctica? Low crime rate, right?

Wrong. A dead body turns up in the middle of nowhere. The corpse is busted up pretty badly, as if thrown or dropped from a great height. Yet how can that be? The flight records show no activity during that period.

And things just get weirder and weirder.

At first, I thought WHITEOUT was going to have a supernatural element to it. But in the end, it was a good, solid thriller. The snow scenes were amazing, making my body temperature drop in the process.

So, I give WHITEOUT a good three stars. Just don't forget to bundle up!

4 of 4 member(s) found this review helpful.

Cold-blooded murder in a very cold place!

J. Meeley | WA, USA | 04/30/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"You always get a potential mixed bag when comics are adapted to the silver screen. Not everything done in a comic can translate to the screen and vice versa. And creative liberties are almost always used in excess, when compared to the actual source material. Fortunately, such is not the case for "Whiteout." The story revolves around a female US Marshall named Carrie Stetko (very well played by actress Kate Beckinsale), as she is forced to investigate a murder on an Antarctic base, just days before the long six month winter, and a powerful whiteout storm, is about to hit.

This dramatic "whodunit" mystery starts off on a slow burn, but yet it never feels like it is dragging. As the body count rises, the puzzle sucks you in, not just about the murders and why they are happening, but about Carrie's own past that has brought her to this desolate wilderness. Tom Skerritt is good as the comforting doctor, while Gabriel Macht is passable as the slick Government agent. But the film almost totally rests on Kate Beckinsale's role. She makes it believable, not only through her no-nonsense attitude on the job, but through the more vulnerable parts, as the painful secret she's been running from is revealed. In some ways she's as cold and dead inside, as the environment surrounding her is outside. You develop a real empathy for her character and it sucks you right into what is happening around her. Beckinsale literally carries the main emotional thrust of the film single-handed, but she does so quite well.

The cinematography is also extremely strong. The sweeping landscape shots easily convey the beauty and vast emptiness of the region. The dangers of those who would seek to dwell in such a place feels quite real. There are a few times, though, where the atmosphere of a terrain so hostile to human life isn't necessarily portrayed accurately, but they don't really detract that much from the film, as if you are already invested in Carrie and the mystery, you probably won't even notice them. Also, one of the red herrings on who is behind the killings is hammered on a little too often, which makes you know that person can't be the one, but that is a small quibble in an otherwise nice and taut mystery.

Having read the graphic novel the film is based upon, I already knew who was ultimately behind the murders, but it was still a real treat to watch it unfold. For those who haven't read it, I think this film will give you the kind of intelligent thriller fans of this genre of film enjoy. Don't listen to all the haters and give this film a shot. It's actually much better than many are giving it credit for."