The Film
If you're hoping to see Kate Beckinsale with a little less than normal, you will get your wish with Whiteout. Of course, by less, we mean she loses two fingers. Sexy!
Despite the lack of digits, Beckinsale definitely has sex appeal. She even looks hot when caked in winter coats, which is her wardrobe for most of this movie. Beckinsale plays U.S. Marshall Carrie Stetko, who is stationed in Antarctica. After years of dealing with dry skin, she is ready to hang up her parka. That's when a murder is discovered. The weird thing is, it's ties into a murder from 60 years ago. Oh, there's also a storm a-coming.
Whiteout is a numbing thriller -- and not just because of the snowy backdrop. The story is a bit confusing, the action is incredibly slow, and it doesn't help that you constantly feel like you're being pelted in the face by snowballs.
It doesn't really matter, though.
Rotten Tomatoes says this film is ranked as the 100th worst-reviewed movie of the past 10 years. That may seem high on the list, but a lot of movies have come out over the past 10 years. Also, the fact that it's tied with Mariah Carey's
Glitter should really tell you something.
Want to dig out a few more details on the movie? Check out Joe Lozito's review of the theatrical release of
Whiteout.
The Picture
Snow on TV? Don't break out the rabbit ears. We understand that a film titled Whiteout will have its fuzzy moments. However, the non-stop blizzard that's being blasted in your face isn't the only thing tainting this 2.40:1 transfer. There are a lot of other hazy moments, and frankly, that's just not acceptable for a film with a $35 million budget. Most of the imagery is very realistic, but there are a lot of soft shots. Also, while the colors and black levels look nice, the fleshtones seem hit or miss. We understand that this locale is darn cold, but Beckinsale looks whiter than she did in Underworld -- and she played a vampire in those movies.
The Sound
The audio comes off slightly better, with the Dolby TrueHD delivering crashes, whipping winds, and echos aplenty. However, like the image, it has a lot of faults. First up is the film's opening plane crash. If you can't get immersive during a good old plane crash, when's it going to happen? All of the bullets and crash noises stay close to the front, with the film's score drowning out most of the details being presented in the surrounds. That wasn't half as annoying as the dialogue, which is muffled in multiple spots.
The Extras
It appears that most of the extras from Whiteout were buried in the snow. This release includes the standard deleted scenes and two 12-minute extras. The first shows us how the actors suffered against the chilly elements. The second talks about how they brought the graphic novel to the big screen. Both are quick and kind of weak, coming off more like a pair of promotional vehicles. Maybe they would have been more interesting before watching the movie.
Final Thoughts
There really is little to enjoy about this slow-paced thriller. It certainly doesn't help that the film's Blu-ray is fuzzier than Kate Beckinsale's giant snow hat. Unless you are a super-Beckinsale fan, assume you can whiteout the film Whiteout from your must-see list.
Product Details
- Actors: Kate Beckinsale, Gabriel Macht, Columbus Short, Alex O'Loughlin, Tom Skerritt
- Director: Dominic Sena
- Audio/Languages: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (English), Dolby Digital 5.1 (English, French, Spanish)
- Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
- Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
- Region: A
- Number of Discs: 2
- Rating: R
- Studio: Warner Home Video
- Blu-ray Disc Release Date: January 19, 2010
- Run Time: 101 minutes
- List Price: $35.99
- Extras:
- The Coldest Thriller Ever
- Whiteout: From Page to Screen
- Deleted Scenes
- Digital Copy
