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Reviews Counted:102
Fresh:6
Rotten:96
Average Rating:3.4/10
Consensus: Kate Beckinsale is as lovely as ever, and does her best with the material, but moribund pacing and an uninspired plot leave Whiteout in the cold.
Rated: 15 [See Full Rating]
Genre: Horror/Suspense
Theatrical Release:11-09-2009
Synopsis: Antarctica... The most isolated landmass on Earth 90° S. latitude, zero E. longitude Six million square miles of ice ... [More]
Starring: Kate Beckinsale, Gabriel Macht, Tom Skerritt, Columbus Short
Director: Dominic Sena
When serious moments are accompanied again and again by collective widespread laughter from an otherwise well-behaved audience, it is a tell-tale sign that something has gone very wrong in translation from page to screen.
We do wish you the best in your future endeavors and that you do manage to find a warmer climate.
It is a mystery why star Beckinsale...keeps wallowing in junk food genre fare....a might more entertaining than watching snow on your television.
...feels like one of those movies that never progressed much beyond the concept stage - yet ended up getting released anyway.
Beckinsale gives a standout performance as the smart and tough female protagonist. You root for her to prevail over the bad guys.
It's a wonder Whiteout isn't in 3D, what with its initial onslaught of in-your-face flying propellers, crashing planes, and a lingering close-up of Kate Beckinsale stripping to her skivvies.
The screenplay by Jon and Erich Hoeber and Chad and Carey Hayes (too many cooks?) is confusing and leaps huge gaps in logic.
Sadly, Whiteout wimps out, starting out like The Thing and winding up like CSI: South Pole, wasting whatever it has going for it.
One must assume that Rucka’s original [graphic novel] is better than this, but only because most things are.
The mystery is not mysterious, the action is not exciting, and the suspense is more like boredom.
Oh, the squandering! It's like setting a story on Mars and then pretending we're just out in the Arizona desert.
Absurdities are to be expected in "genre" filmmaking, but disbelief can only be suspended so far.
It'll take all day to list all the things that are wrong with Whiteout.
Whiteout is a conventionally jam-packed, dutifully ludicrous action thriller.
Whiteout’s intriguing setting and storyline would be gripping if Beckinsale’s Sherlocking around wasn’t so glossed-over, or alternately spoon-fed to the audience.
Stupefying journey to the bottom of the earth.
Top CriticIf you want the real Whiteout experience, just read the book. Or ask the manager of your local 7-Eleven if you can play Clue in the beer cooler.
All we're given is a lukewarm mystery where frustrating plot holes give way to lackulster conclusions, and even the most furious CGI snowstorms can't obscure the film's telegraphed "twist."
Dull and draining, Whiteout should have been offered under one of these preferable alternate titles -- Washout, or even better, Wornout.
A dreadful sleeping pill, marching into production with the best intentions in the world, but coming out the other side a jumbled, incompetent, ludicrously underlined whodunit.
September 10, 2009:
Critics Consensus: 9 Looks Great, But The Plot's Weak
This week at the movies, we've got post-apocalyptic conflict (9, with voice work by Elijah Wood and Jennifer Connelly); Antarctic intrigue (Whiteout, starring Kate Beckinsale... More...
September 09, 2009:
Total Recall: Chill Out With These Antarctica Movies
Unless you happen to be overly fond of snow, Antarctica probably isn't a place you think about very often -- and for the most part, filmmakers have always been the same way. For... More...
August 15, 2009:
Trailer & Poster review 
More...
December 05, 2008:
The Cadillac Records Interviews: Columbus Short And Mos Def Not Into Bow Wow
More...
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie | Date |
|---|---|---|
| — | The Descent: Part 2 | 04/12 |
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