Whiteout

Plot synopsis:
It's 1957 and the movie opens inside a Russian cargo plane flying over freezing airspace. Two Russian pilots are in the cockpit talking about the cargo they are carrying. The co-pilot comments that he will go to the cargo hold and take care of things saying it's now or never. The co-pilot enters the cargo hold where three other Russians are looking at American nude magazines and offers them a bottle of vodka. The camera lingers on a padlocked box in the cargo hold that they are using as a card table. Purposely dropping the bottle of vodka so his comrade is forced to bend over to pick it up, the co-pilot then quickly pulls a gun and shoots him in the head. A gunfight ensues between the co-pilot and the cargo hold Russians. In the middle of the gunfire, the pilot is shot and the plane begins to plummet. Eventually everyone is dead as the plan crashes into the ice of Antarctica.Present Day. We see shots of the frozen desert of Antarctica. We follow a warmly clad figure through a heavily populated international research center. The figure walks past various scientists outside including a group of streakers. The figure enters the building and several scientists are clad in Hawaiian luau apparel, getting ready for the end of the season party. Everyone is packing up to leave the center before the six months of winter sets in. We see more shots of the center as the figure walks through to a bedroom.In the bedroom, the figure begins to take of layers of protective clothing and we see that it is Carrie Stetko (Kate Beckinsale). Carrie undresses, hangs her US Marshall badge near her bed and climbs into a warm shower. While showering, Carrie's name is called. She leaves her shower, walks into her room, and is greeted by Doc (Tom Skerritt). They talk about the fact that everyone is leaving and that Carrie is giving up her post instead of wintering through again with the Doc. It's at this point that a discussion of a whiteout is first had and that in a whiteout you can't see more than six inches in front of your face and a person can freeze to death in seconds.More random events follow as well as the revelation that a hurricane-style storm is rolling in and that the entire research facility will have to be evacuated. Carrie bumps into a towel-clad, just showered Russell Haden (Alex O'Loughlin) in the hall and Russell solicits a body search from Carrie. She comments that he was one of the streakers and based on what she saw, she's not interested. Carrie is informed by Shaun Doyle (Sam Murphy) that a body may have been discovered in a remote area. Carrie says she'll check it out.Carrie and Doc hop on a plane flown by Delfy (Columbus Short) and fly to the location. Delfy is former military and has only been flying in Antarctica for a year. The plane lands and Carrie and Doc find a frozen body that looks like he fell from a cliff while climbing. They turn the body over and find a security badge identifying the body as McGuire, another scientist. They theorize that he fell while climbing but can't figure out why he was out in such a remote area. They take the body back to the lab.Carrie and Doc wheel the frozen body through the middle of the luau, disgusting everyone they pass. They go into the medical facility and perform an autopsy. They notice that McGuire has a badly stitched wound on his leg with a distinctive loop at the top of the thread. They also can see that he has been stabbed in the chest by an axe, which leads Carrie to believe that there is a murderer on the loose. She says she will have to investigate.Carrie reviews logs of science groups and determines that McGuire belonged to a group of three scientists including Mooney (Steve Lucescu) and Rubin (Jesse Todd). The three of them were looking for meteorites. Carries attempts to contact the remaining scientists and manages to reach Mooney who asks that she come to Vostock (an old Russian station) and Carrie obliges.Carrie and Delfy fly to Vostock. They search the Cold War era facility and find no one. Carrie says that she will need to check one last building and dresses in her extreme weather clothes. As she opens the door to go outside, her coffee falls off a bench and immediately freezes. Carries clips herself into a safety rope system and heads to the out building. She enters the building and takes off her gloves. She walks into a room and sees Mooney lying on a couch. She walks up to the couch and Mooney is gushing blood from a neck wound. Suddenly, a black-clad killer appears behind Carrie. She dodges the killer's axe and runs out of the building and back outside. She clips herself into the safety line, but the killer follows, also clipping himself in. He continues to swing his axe at Carrie, but Carrie manages to evade him. When Carrie gets to the door, she turns the metal handle without her gloves and her fingers stick to the handle, pulling off her skin. She makes it inside and manages to keep the killer out and then passes out.Carrie has a feverish dream of her time as an agent in Miami where she and her partner had brought in a suspect. Her partner tells her to take a nap and the scene forwards to her washing up at a basin where the suspect attacks her and she screams for her partners help but no avail. She wakes to Delfy at her bedside catching her flailing arms. They rehash the attack and Carrie decides to go back to the outbuilding. They get there and see Robert Pryce (Gabriel Macht), a UN security agent. Pryce is examining Moody's body and he and Carrie square off. Carrie doesn't trust him but they agree to take the body back to the facility together. At the facility, they conclude that the third party in the research group, Rubin, is missing and must be the killer. They decided to head out to the groups most recent research site.Carrie, Pryce, and Delfy climb into a Caterpillar snow vehicle and head to the science groups last know research grid via GPS. At the grid, Carrie notices that the ice has been worked and begins to walk around. She suddenly falls through the ice. She looks around and sees a trail of blood on the wall and the door to the Russian cargo plane. Delfy and Pryce climb down by rope and they all enter the plane. They begin to look around and Carrie figures out how the gunfight took place. They notice the locked box has been opened by a large crowbar and six cylinders removed. This is how McGuire cut his leg that he later stitched up. Carrie figures out that the plane was the real reason Pryce was sent to Antarctica. Suddenly, the tunnel collapses, snow rushing into the plane, trapping the group. When all seems doomed, Pryce remembers that Russian plans from the 1950's had exploding roof hatches and is able to explode the hatch with the battery from Carrie's GPS. The three climb out and share a bottle of vodka in the snow cat as they plan their next move.The group returns to the facility where Carrie informs Sam that a serial killer is on the loose. Carrie then goes to see Doc about her fingers. Doc examines Carrie's fingers, which are black with frostbite. Carrie has no feeling in her fingers and Doc tells her that they will have to be amputated. Doc and Carrie talk about happier times while Doc preps Carrie for the amputation. We hear the clip as Carrie's pinky finger is amputated off screen.Carrie returns to her office to retrieve her gun and after a visit by Pryce where she reveals her past in Miami she confronted by Rubin. Rubin explains that they had found the plane on the meteorite search and that they had taken the canisters. Rubin explains that someone is trying to kill them. Carrie says she will escort Rubin to the plane that is leaving and will ensure that the killer is caught. As Carrie gets Rubin ready to leave, an outside door opens and the killer appears. The killer bashes Rubin onto the ice, swinging his ax then snaps his neck. Carrie knocks the killer out with a shovel.Carrie and Pryce reveal Russell as the killer. Russell explains that he has the Russian canisters with him. All of the other scientists are boarding the plane as there is only a few minutes until the huge winter storm hits. Carrie and Pryce lock Russell in the brig and discuss the need to find the canisters.In the confusion of the evacuation, Carrie and Pryce cannot find the canisters. Carrie then discovers that Delfy has been stabbed and Doc attends to him. Carrie and Pryce find out that Russell has escaped and see him escaping and trying to get to his plane on the ice. As the larger plane leaves, Carrie and Pryce chase Russell across the ice. The chase continues when the whiteout hits. For several minutes the three chase each other on the ice, using the system of security ropes. Just when it looks as if Russell is about to kill Carrie, Pryce appears and cuts Russell's rope, sending him flying into the cold killing him. Carrie and Russell return to the base, open Russell's bag and find the missing canisters. When they open the canisters they find only jelly beans.Carrie decides that the original contents of the canisters were hidden in the cargo on the plane. Carrie contacts Sam who is searching the plane for any missing cargo. He says he will send Carrie a manifest. Carrie retrieves the cargo manifest from the fax machine and notices that three packages from the science center were not loaded on the plane. Carrie goes to the science center and determines that the missing packages are the bodies of Rubin, Mooney, and McGuire. She opens each body bag, but finds nothing. While searching through McGuire's body bag, she notices the distinctive stitch on his leg wound matches the ones on her amputated fingers. She opens McGuire's chest wound, reaches inside and retrieves several bags of large diamonds. As she turns to leave, she sees Doc in the doorway.Doc admits his role in the diamond smuggling and says that Russell got greedy, leading him to murder the others. He says that he has nothing to go home to and the diamonds would give him a new life. Carrie says she feels betrayed by her friend, and would have to turn him in.The Doc makes a final drink and remarks to Carrie, "The Aurora Australis is pretty special this time of the year. You haven't really watched it, have you? I'd like to see it one last time. You owe it to yourself to see it sometime, it's a he** of a show." He moves to the exit door, opens it and struggles out into whiteout conditions and disappears. Carrie stands there, seemingly stunned, but allows him to exit to his death. For some time she just stares out the door while the storm blows in and snowflakes melt on her face.Six months later. Carrie, Pryce, and a recovered Delfy have wintered through at the facility. Pryce and Delfy are bowling in the hall with the canisters and a huge rubber band ball. Carrie chats with them and goes to her office where we see her transmit an email to her director for a new post.Then we see her starting to go somewhere and and the others ask where she's going. She indicates she needs to take a look around. She puts on her cold weather gear and goes outside. She hasn't gone far before she is struck by the beauty of the Aurora lights in the sky, finally taking the time to look.The end.

Tags: suspenseful, mystery, murder, flashback

Review:
It's definitely watchable and fairly entertaining, but it could have been a film to remember with that type of setting and the plot, and unfortunately I guessed the twist at the end halfway through the movie.
Kate Beckinsale makes for a very good lead, while being believable at the same time, and that's very important for a film like this.
But luckily, the best performance came from Tom Skerritt, (who managed to maintain a level of quality the rest involved could not) and his presence near the end saved a lower rating (yes, its true, parts of this film deserve lower than the overall 4).No need to spend you hard earned money on this at the box office mess.
This movie suffered from insufficient character development and over-reliance on several action-thriller-slasher scenes, which, although exciting and well-executed, were not enough to sustain WHITEOUT at a solid 8* for its duration!
I didn't know a lot about it, and i have found that that is the best way to see a movie, because if you watch all the previews and get too hipped up about it, then you are most likely going to set your self up for disaster.
U.S. Marshal Carrie Stetko (Kate Beckinsale) is three days from the final of her tour at an international research station in Antarctica in which the sun is about to set for six months , after which she'll resign .
It's a good thrilling and spooky film which begins with an US Marshal who investigates a murdered corpse at tundra and , soon finds more and more bodies ; furthermore , the climate's deadly elements add suspense to the flick .
Kate Beckinsale was producer Joel Silver's first choice for the role of Carrie Stetko .Support cats is pretty good such as Gabriel Macht , Tom Skerritt as an aging physician about to retire , Columbus Short ,Shawn Doyle and Alex O'Loughlin , pre-Hawaii 5.0.
Not that Kate Beckinsale wasn't good in the movie, but the script catered on the gore instead of on the quality of the plot..
It feels in many ways like any other FBI/CIA international mystery thriller involving lots of brutally murdered people, with the exception of the setting.Nice FX and a sort of gore horror film element (that axe murderer story lovers will greatly appreciate) add something beyond the FBI melodrama to create some excitement, thrills, and disturbing moments..
The most predictable way to make it fresh is to make the setting fairly interesting, and Whiteout certainly goes for that.Kate Beckinsale stars as Carrie Stetko (with an impeccable American accent I should add), a US Marshall with a 'troubled' past, assigned to Antarctica.
When Kate Beckinsale's character says she wants out of Antarctica, you could almost hear the actor speaking the same of "Whiteout." No wonder, as Dominic Sena's south pole-set whodunnit based on a graphic novel by writer Greg Rucka and illustrator Steve Lieber is of the dull sort, where tension is conveniently sapped by proceedings so insipid and a narrative arc so obvious one could easily compute for the trajectory.Beckinsale plays Carrie Stetko, a US marshal haunted by a partner who double-crossed her years earlier, and finally ready to get back to civilization after holing herself up in a scientific research facility in Antarctica.
Yet just as she's about to leave for warmer weather, dead bodies pile up and she's forced to look into the case through the Antarctic winter, getting stranded for another half-year with a shady UN investigator (Gabriel Macht), her pilot Delfy (Columbus Short), and a doctor (Tom Skerritt).Intermittently kept alive by a couple of frantic action sequences amid the titular condition, whatever little success those moments achieve is ultimately diluted by Sena's standard direction, the pedestrian script, and a twist as clear as a spring sky.
this is a nifty little thriller/murder mystery that takes place in Antarctica at a research station just as the six month long winter season is beginning,in which the sun will set for the full six months.Kate Beckinsale plays a U.S. Marshall trying to track the killer,while a raging storm roars.while i liked the movie,i did think the killer was revealed too soon.but there are plenty of other twists and turns to keep you on your toes right to the end.is wasn't expecting the ending at all.and that's a good thing in this kind of film.it wasn't predictable at all as the film moved along,i thought i had thing figured out.but i was wrong.for me,Whiteout is an 8/10.
This is one of the movies that by watching the trailer you expect something good to spend a night out in the movies, and this is what you get, but you wish you had a bit more.OK, one point for starring Kate, she has done a lot of movies and has given good performances, and this one is not bad either, not one to be nominated for, but does OK.One point for the scenery, there are shots that are breathtaking to watch.One point for the decent overall acting of the supporting cast, not that bad.One point for the story, we have seen better, we have seen worse too, so although this is quite easy to predict, it still manages to captivate you until the end.I would give half a point for the intensity of the fight scenes and all, because they were sort, had no real suspense though i have to admit, the conditions are well taken into account to portray in the fights, so i give one point.Thats it, nothing else, this one is not going on my recommendation list for friends to watch if they have something better to do or spend their money to..
In fairness I'm not sure this was a big budget film, but artificial snow may have been better (if only a little bit) How expensive could that be?I don't think Whiteout is quite as bad as the majority of people say it is, but I can perhaps see why it has generated negative reviews.
The shootings of the landscapes offer something special for the eye.Second, the introduction is very well done and its relation to the later content of the movie is an interesting idea.Third, the suspense and fight scenes in the movie are very special and exploit the arctic atmosphere in a senseful way.Fourth, the actors are doing a quite well job, especially Kate Beckinsale who is fighting some demons of her past.Of course, there are also some negative aspects about this film: First, I personally think that the ending is quite predictable.Second, the first aspects provokes that there is somehow a lack of suspense and the "who's done it"-fever.But that's already all that is negative about it.
Nearing the end of her tenure in the great white south, she gets sucked into a murder mystery when a body is found on the ice.I have never read the graphic novel, and if it was as poorly done as this film, I never care to.
Starring The Ever-Gorgeous Kate Beckinsale In The Lead With Other Relatively Unknown Cast, The Movie Leaves You Breathless With Its Locations Or Rather Sets.
I enjoyed the film, as the acting was good, even if the plot was a little predictable, and the action/scenery was enjoyable as well.
This film is action thriller with Kate Beckinsale and Tom Skerritt, been on Antarctica after it was the first murder happened and the body was found.
The dead of winter setting makes for a decent thriller, but the fact that the movie is a little predictable and offers no real juicy ending.
Kate Beckinsale is good as usual, although the story could have used a little more work.The basic plot about this movie is: Carrie Stetko, the lone U.S. Marshal assigned to Antarctica, is investigating the continent's first murder, which draws her into a shocking mystery.
Directed by Dominic Sena.9/10 Grade: A Studio: Warner Bros., Dark Castle Entertainment, StudioCanal Starring: Kate Beckinsale, Tom Skerritt, Columbus Short Gabriel Macht Director: Dominic Sena Producers: Joel Silver, Susan Downey, David Gambino Screenplay: Jon and Erich Hoeber, Chad Hayes, Carey Hayes Based on Whiteout by Greg Rucka, Steve Lieber Rated: R Running Time: 1 Hr. 41 Mins.
Now I've watching it a second time I figured I better write this review before I totally forget it yet again.It's pretty damn forgettable.Beckinsale plays a U.S. Marshall who's stationed in Antarctica and uncovers the continent's first murder.
I just stumbled on to this movie at the local rental shop and was surprise to see Kate Bekinsale was in it, then I reckon why hadn't I heard about this film since it has such a well known leading lady and when I found out a little more I discovered it was directed by Dominic Sena, who also called the shots on GONE IN 60 SECONDS and SWORDFISH and then I found out it didn't perform so well at the box office.Well, the good news is its really not that bad of a thriller although the ending was somewhat uneventful, the cast play their parts really well and the direction and cinematography are top class, sure the plot has a few holes in it but so do a few of the more popular films of the genre, its not going to win any awards but it is worth checking out, provided you set your expectations to neutral.Overall, I 've seen better and I 've seen worse, at least its not a waste of 90 minutes give or take, however I can't guarantee you won't be disappointed with the ending, that is one part of the film that could 've and should 've been better..
This is all set against the backdrop of a coming storm that will trap everyone in Antarctica for the rest of the winter.There is a good mixture of action, suspense and light-hearted moments that keep the movie moving and interesting.
The film opens well: some Russians on a plane during the cold war have a shoot-out only for the aeroplane to lose control over the endless white landscape of the Antartic.Fast forward to modern day and Kate Beckinsale strips to her underwear in a particularly unerotic and pointless scene, before her shower probably disappointed a lot of men by revealing nothing.And, unfortunately, the film continues plodding along at this seemingly pointless, uninspiring and by-the-numbers pace, as if someone thought that an isolated setting and Save the Cat beat-sheet were enough to make a good film.
Well, that person was very wrong.Beckinsale's character moves from dull "suspense" scene to the next, as flashbacks reveal her inner turmoil (sigh) and an ice pick wielding killer falls over constantly like something out of Scream.Seriously, it's god-awful and 20 minutes from the end, I really couldn't suffer it any more and turned it over, hence the score of a 1.To be so close to the end and to not care about anyone, their motives or how it ends sums this film up perfectly: please don't waste your time on it..
As an example of how much I wanted to like it, I hate cop movies and cop shows - so I was working hard to appreciate this one.**POSSIBLE SPOILER HERE** The other reviewers have hit many nails on the head, but the nail in the coffin for me was a stupid character choice with no possible motive.After the first action scene, the "suspicious cop" wants them to leave a location to go investigate a science station - right after the protagonist has been attacked by a murderer!
I didn't get the over long shower/strip scene opening for Kate Beckinsale and no its not because I am female as if you read the other reviews you will see that although the men enjoyed seeing her strip it carried no relevance or meaning to the film, story or plot.
This film is about an emotionally wounded US Marshall stationed in Antarctica, who has to solve a series of murders on the isolated, cold and hostile continent.I think "Whiteout" is pretty good at giving viewers an idea what life is like in a science station on Antarctica.
I enjoyed watching "Whiteout", and it is a good film to keep the adrenaline going and to pass time..
Kate Beckinsale wasn't a bad choice for the lead, but she just had crappy material to work with, I honestly feel sorry for every one of the actors that were involved in any way shape or form with this movie.
U.S. Marshal Carrie Stetko (Kate Beckinsale) is three days from leaving Antarctic research station Amundsen-Scott Base for the last time.
Kate Beckinsale is hot.Even in the Underworld films - which were amusing but lightweight disposable rubbish - she was dressed all in leather and still hardly rated a gasp, despite getting her kit off in the second film.Yet here she is in Whiteout, which I can best describe as "a film in which things happen".' This stupid and pointless statement tells you nothing about the film, but in fact that is because there is nothing of any worth in the film, it is in itself stupid and pointless and for some reason perfect as the throwaway filler in any movie marathon.Now two days after watching Whiteout I can tell you exactly what happened from beginning to end with no emotion, as the film elicited no other response from me than "then this happened", "then that happened", "then it finished".After an inexplicable shower scene that has nothing to do with anything we continue.More specifically, Beckinsale plays a Marshall based at a research station in Antarctica.
Her name is Kerry Stetko, and she has handed in her resignation after a three year contract and will finally move back to the US, her best bud on the site is the Doctor, played by Tom Skerritt in a bitzer role.Due to some Treachery at Sky decades earlier (you can say "treachery at sea", why not "treachery at sky"?) there is some sought after cargo buried under the snow at a plane crash site.Long story short the once word gets around that the cargo is present, many people decide that they want in, and in the process a few of them get bumped off and Stetko and an FBI guy get involved.It is worth noting just how clumsily this film was put together, and how certain events and plot points make absolutely no sense, so rather than describe the rest of the tedious events here are the lowlights: I.
But don't expect much.Final Thought – Kate Beckinsale can't carry a film, regardless of how hot she is.If you liked this review (or even if you didn't) check out oneguyrambling.com.
Alex O'Loughlin was annoying - he thought he was all that in this film but really he was trying to cover for the fact that he couldn't act.My one complaint is - it's so cold and snowy and the wind is blowing so hard where they are yet whenever Kate Beckinsale comes in from outside she looks like they just prepped her for Oscar night.
When the main female character starts the film with a shower scene, ok the expectations for the movie goes down.
When a body is found in the Antartica, Marshall Carrie Stetko about end her tour sets out to investigate, and uncovers a mystery involving a crashed Russian plane from the 1950's......Whiteout is yet another movie based on a graphic novel.
Instead it's a thriller with a rather unusual setting.The cast, led by Kate Beckinsale as Marshall Stetko are all good.
Kate Beckinsale is decent as the lead brining what she can to the role of tortured U.S Marshall Carrie Stetko who tracks a killer in Antarctica with a massive "whiteout" storm approaching their research base.
If they were improved somehow this movie wouldn't have been half that bad because even Kate Beckisnales star power can't help Whiteout feel like anymore more than a disappointment compared to other superior thrillers out there..
The best act occurred when Kate Beckinsale's character first encounters the killer (who always seems to be in the right place at the right time) and the chase through a snow blizzard, but other than that it's rather anticlimactic, especially the film's closing revelation.
It looks like once the film was completed, it went through lots of post production editing to salvage something that could be released hence why Stuart Baird is listed as a supervising editor.Kate Beckinsale plays a US Marshal at an international research base in Antarctica.
WHITEOUT is a snowbound thriller that sees the unusually-cast Kate Beckinsale playing a US Marshal on the track of a killer who's left a frozen body in deepest Antarctica.
All in all Whiteout is not a terrible movie, It's not great either but it's not terrible.Kate Beckinsale(who I think is great to look at but not much of an actress.)Tries her very hardest and does do well in the second and third act of the film but she can't save this movie from being plain old ordinary.
This movie itself is just a typical action-thriller where U.S. Marshal Carrie Stetko (Kate Kate Beckinsale is investigating a serial killer at an international research station in Antarctica.
So, it's basically a cop-trying-to-catch-killer story with a pretty predictable plot element and lack of intriguing subplots.The acting was OK, and there is a good deal of gore, action and mystery to keep the movie at least mildly suspenseful, letting the audience wonder who the perpetrator is.
Along the way it was all making sense, it has history, some of thriller, if you could call it like that, it got my attention but it gets to a point when you think the most interesting is gonna happened and the movie finishes.
I think one of the things that really hooked me was that I didn't know "who dun it" until the end - not a twist or surprise ending, but a really good procedural story.Watch with an open mind and you'll enjoy this movie..