Whiteout

Die Sherrif*in untersucht den ersten Mord in der Antarktis. Die Suche nach dem unbekannten Mörder wird durch einen bevorstehenden Sturm und Außentemperaturen von ungefähr -50 °C erschwert... Dominic Sena (60 Seconds) drehte einen kleinen Mystery-Thriller und versprach eine vielversprechende Unterhaltung, wie der Trailer zeigt. In Wirklichkeit wurde es jedoch zu einem gewöhnlichen Detektivfilm, der nicht aus der Reihe ähnlicher Titel auffällt. Ich würde es als schwachen Durchschnitt betrachten, aber ein zusätzlicher Punkt geht an die schöne Kate Beckinsale in Unterwäsche, also 5/10. (27.05.2010)

Ein Thriller, in dem ständig etwas passiert, der sich in einem attraktiven Milieu abspielt und in welchem vor der Kamera die heiße Braut Beckinsale herumspaziert. Trotzdem ist er nicht spannend und interessant. Das soll das Werk von vier Drehbuchautoren sein? Und vom Produzenten Joel Silver? Whiteout erinnert mehr an ein besseres zweitklassiges DVD-Release, wie z. B. Babylon A.D.. Ein Routineplot und platte Figuren. Die Autoren spielen mit Kamerafiltern auf so eine Art und Weise, dass das Antarktika bunter als ein Regenwald ist. (12.03.2010)

Cold inside, cold outside, I decided to make myself a bowl of hot soup and check what’s going on in the Antarctic. Unfortunately it looks just the same. I experience pretty much the same atmosphere waiting for the bus in a snowstorm. A routine story to the core couldn’t be saved even by beautiful Kate in the shower... I’m afraid that Sena will never shoot anything better than California. (07.01.2010)

I like movies that engage the audience, and Whiteout certainly does just that. This happens in the prologue alone, where the pilot gets up from the controls and goes to his passengers intending to take over the cargo they are carrying. A screenwriter who doesn't think about the audience would let those passengers be put to sleep, poisoned, suffocated, or whatever else, and that would be boring because then the story could successfully end within a few minutes. However, a pilot who pulls out a gun and starts a furious bloody shootout, even though he knows the plane will crash to the ground...now that's different. Tension can be felt in every second. The crew exchanges gunfire with submachine guns, and the plane helplessly crashes to the ground, so that the plot can continue in an equally entertaining, but unfortunately contrived and silly way. You see, on the other hand, I like clever movies, and Whiteout certainly isn't one of those. The mistake probably comes from the comic book source material, but the direction contributes just as much. The film is enjoyable when it has action scenes, such as fighting and wielding an ice axe in a snowstorm with minimal visibility and a temperature of around 50 degrees below zero. But the logic falls apart and the ending is also lacking because the action finale comes too early and the big surprise isn't actually that surprising. Setting the story in Antarctica is original on one hand, but on the other, it brings with it numerous genre limitations, because searching for a perpetrator in such a small community wouldn't be such a big challenge if the screenwriter adhered to the aforementioned storytelling logic. Overall impression: 40%. (22.10.2010)