johnlink ranks WHITEOUT (2009)
I’m always up for a new thriller. I’ve really gotten my money’s worth out of HBO this year, catching up on a bunch of stuff that caught my interest in theaters. WHITEOUT falls under that category.
I watched WHITEOUT (2009) on 9.13.10. It was my first viewing of the film. TRAILER HERE
The first ten minutes nearly ruins this movie. There is a brutal opening sequence which should have been cut. It starts with a terribly CGId airplane flying, and ends with it crashing. In the middle is some ho-hum acting emanating from a been-there-done-that scene. We get out of that, cut to modern day, and instead of simply writing ‘Antarctica’ the screen informs us ‘Antarctica: one of the most isolated and dangerous places on Earth’. Gee, thanks movie. Thanks for educating me on that. Then we get a needless shower scene which marginally shows how much clothing is required on one of these barren outposts, but really is just an excuse to get Kate Beckinsale in her bra and panties.
Once the movie starts, though, it’s good enough to be distracting for an hour and a half. The twists are predictable, and usually not even twists. Some of the action scenes (like the one in the snow at the end) are more tedious than exciting. But the characters aren’t deplorable, and the final moments at least don’t make you roll your eyes.
There are some major lazy writing moments. Mostly in the way that the characters figure things out EXACTLY how they happened, and in the very obvious foreshadowing moments.
If that sounds like it makes for a very mediocre experience, well yeah it does. This is maybe watchable once, but not something I’d ever see the need to revisit. But hey, it got me from the late afternoon to my Monday Night Football double header, so I’ll give it that.
SCORES
FILM: 4; MOVIE: 6; ACTING: 5; WRITING: 3; BONUS: -1
I give the negative bonus point for a useless and terrible opening scene which almost made me shut the movie off.
4+6+5+3-1=17
FINAL SCORE: 4.25
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