Movie: Whiteout

Hold on to your hats, kids, here comes “Whiteout,” complete with requisite scares in the dark, extremely bitter temperatures, and accompanying gusty winds. Apparently, though, the heroine of the piece, whose gorgeous face somehow stays uncovered through all of the proceedings, is exempt from the elements.

That would be Kate Beckinsale, perhaps trying to repeat her “Underworld” successes slightly above it all in a much colder place. It’s supposed to be Anarctica, but northern Manitoba nicely plays the part of the South Pole for filming purposes.

The temperature disparity also becomes properly apparent in the contrast between the actress, who is steaming hot – as an early gratuitous shot-from-the-rear shower scene will attest – and the really bad guy, who’s so cool everyone will guess he’s the villain of the piece the first time he shows his face on screen.

Kate Beckinsale finds terror at the South Pole in "Whiteout."

What no one will figure out, however, is why he did what he does, in a disjointed ending that doesn’t seem much of a payoff to him or us.

The R-rated suspenser from Niles, Ohio, native Dominic Sena (“Swordfish”) actually begins with a rock ‘em, sock ‘em thrill ride/plane crash, orchestrated by some Russians anxious to hijack the contents of something special on board.

That was half a century before U. S. Marshal Carrie Stetko (Beckinsale) requested a transfer to this southernmost outpost to escape the demons of an arrest gone bad. (We know this because her mind keeps flashing back to the incident, each time revealing a little more.)

Well, lo and behold, who would ever think that our Carrie would have to investigate why a dead body suddenly shows up out near the old crash site? The discovery sets loose a masked man wielding a big ol’ axe and a lot of other folks trying to hold onto guide ropes because no one, including the audience, can see much of what’s happening during these blizzards.

Blizzard conditions make "Whiteout" one tough movie to see.

You will see blood, however, as well as a finger amputation, that is, if you’re brave enough to look.

The potential beasts surrounding the beauty include a pilot (Columbus Short), doctor (Tom Skerritt), fun-loving scientist (Alex O’Loughlin, hot CBS commodity from last year’s “Moonlight” and the soon-to-debut “Three Rivers”) and FBI agent (Gabriel Macht) . . . well, at least that’s what they each claim to be at the start of the flick. Does our beautiful heroine survive the ice-bound mayhem?

Tom Skerritt and Kate Beckinsale star in "Whiteout."

You can probably guess the answer to that; we expect the mediocre quality of this thriller to take a theatrical cue from one of Sena’s big action films of almost a decade ago: It’ll just about be “Gone in 60 Seconds.”

Rated: R
Stars: Kate Beckinsale, Gabriel Macht, Tom Skerritt, Alex O’Loughlin, Columbus Short
Director: Dominic Sena

Studio/Official Site: http://whiteoutmovie.warnerbros.com/

[John M. Urbancich is a Cleveland-based reporter who has reviewed movies and written film features and celebrity profiles at Cleveland's Sun Newspapers for 25 years. As a longtime member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association, his work has also been appearing on the Sun News website for more than a decade. John regularly updates his own site at www.JMuvies.com. ]