Starring: Kate Beckinsale, Gabriel Macht, Tom Skerritt, Columbus Short

Directed by: Dominic Sena

Kate Beckinsale returns to the big screen but does herself no favours in this predictable, ham-fisted thriller which offers no surprises and has more plot holes than you can shake a sieve at.

US Marshall Kerry Stedko (Beckinsale) has taken a remote posting on a research station in the frozen wastes in Antarctica to escape a traumatic incident in her past.  She's thinking about packing it all in as the deadline for the last plane home for the winter draws ever closer, but she's quickly spurred into action by the discovery of a body out on the ice.  Things get more serious when Stedko finds the body was the result of the first ever murder in the Antarctic region and barely escapes with her life when she's attacked by a masked ice-axe wielding murderer.   Aided by her pilot Delfy and confident UN investigator Pryce, she discovers that the mounting series of murders have something to do with a crashed Soviet plane and its cargo from the 1950s.

The opening ten minutes of Whiteout set the tone for the entire movie; Beckinsale stripping down to her skivvies for a shower scene.  You almost feel like giving the writers a prize - in a film set entirely in Antarctica where characters are wearing clothes thicker than you'd find on a bear's hide, they've managed to crowbar in a scene where Beckinsale gets her kit off.  It goes rapidly downhill from there; flashback scenes that have seemingly nothing to do with the unfolding murder mystery and events that make less and less sense as the film progresses.
It's unintentionally hilarious, badly scripted, terribly timed and sorely predictable.  In scenes which are evidently meant to be poignant and exciting, it would be more subtle to have a tape playing a "Dun dun dun!" sound effect.

The climactic action sequences are poorly directed; the blizzards which are a threat to the characters' vision would serve to heighten the tension but instead they obscure ours making it almost impossible to tell who is attacking whom and sapping it of any kind of impact.
It's a great shame because the remoteness of Antarctica is a unique opportunity to shoot a thriller (you might want to check out John Carpenter's classic sci-fi horror The Thing released on Blu-ray next week for a lesson in remote Antarctic terror), but this opportunity is squandered by a nonsensical plot and muddled direction.