Film review: Whiteout washes out at the end

Whiteout – A Warner Bros. release. Directed by Dominic Sena. Starring Kate Beckinsale, Gabriel Macht, Tom Skerritt, Columbus Short, Alex O’Loughlin, and Shawn Doyle. Rated R.

Based on the 2001 graphic novel, Whiteout is a pretty credible thriller that missteps badly in its climax, leaving the audience to wonder: Did anyone involved think the climax is believable or satisfying? Too bad, because the screenplay, whipped up by four writers, keeps the early going mystery interesting enough. It helps, too, that Kate Beckinsale is pretty secure in the action/mystery surroundings.

Opening with an exciting prolog taking place in the late 1950s as a Russian plane and its secret cargo crashes at the South Pole, the film then switches to present day to an American research facility. Among its employees is U.S. Marshall Carrie Stetko (Kate Beckinsale), who has been stationed at the base way too long. With a mammoth storm bearing down on the facility, she, along with the rest, are getting ready to leave. Things change when a body is discovered in the middle of nowhere. It’s a murder, the first recorded in Antarctica. Then the downed Russian plane is also found buried under the snow. Stetko and U.N. agent Robert Pryce (Gabriel Macht) begin an investigation, in which they must stay one step ahead while trying to stop a parka-clad killer.

The screenplay by the four writers (actually two sets of brothers), makes some major changes to the original graphic novel’s story. Not a problem, at least in the early going, because the idea itself – the Russian plane complete with its secret cargo having been discovered by someone and just what that cargo is and a killer that keeps turning up – is enough of a mystery to keep the audience’s attention. The mix of characters is pretty good. And there’s Pryce, who may or may not be who he says he is – and just why is a U.N. agent involved? There is Dr. John Fury (Tom Skerritt, reliable as usual), who is Stetko’s friend and confidant, and a pilot named Delfy (Columbus Short). Then there is Stetko’s past shown in flashbacks, one involving an incident in Florida, driving home the point that her self-assuredness may be shaky, though this doesn’t fully register.

What really hurts the film isn’t the ultimate identity of the killer. It’s enough of a twist that it works. It’s the resolution of it all once the killer is revealed. Stetko’s handling of it is so completely ridiculous that the audience leaves the theater let down.

Dominic Sena directs. Never one to be considered subtle, he puts together a tense and well-executed chase scene as Stetko and Pryce are clipped to guide lines while the storm rages around them with the killer in pursuit. Sena gets great contributions from Chris Soos’ widescreen photography and some nicely done editing by Martin Hunter. But it’s that ending that ruins what otherwise would have been an intriguing thriller.