Whiteout

RATING: **

You know what you are into,when 10-odd minutes into a murder mystery based in Antarctica,with the temperature outside down to -55 degree Celsius and a storm coming,Kate Beckinsale strips down slowly and takes a shower. Just like that.

So,okay,what is the point of casting Beckinsale — a regular on world’s sexiest list — in a film,where she is otherwise required to be swathed in layers of clothes,if you can’t take that shot of her? However,Whiteout isn’t trying to rip off only Ms Beckinsale’s vital statistics,particularly her pert little behind. The film is doing the same to Antarctica,among the few untouched lands on the planet,as Whiteout itself helpfully underlines.

In a confusing,and yet all-too familiar,story about a mildly disgraced cop (Marshal Stetko,played by Beckinsale) searching for redemption in a harsh posting — and an international mystery involving a downed Russian plane carrying what could be the dreaded N-material at the height of the Cold War — the only new factor is the South Pole.

Though the film does have the obligatory research station and regular updates on the harsh weather outside and the advancing storm,it really isn’t about Antarctica at all. As is clear from the aforementioned Beckinsale-in-the-buff scene,it is about how far you can stretch a bare-boned story where the characters are about as warm as the climate.

Of course,there are compensations. Never imagined the effort it would take to go from a building to the next in the midst of a snow blizzard at an Antarctica research station,including walking tethered to a rope. Or that with the sun out,an exposed person could die in three minutes. Or that when the “last planes” leave,those left behind are there for the long,dark winter. Or what it would have taken to set up all that equipment out there,including the quarters which the scientists inhabit,down to flower pots with actual flowers!

And last,but not the least,there is the relief that Whiteout wasn’t shot in Antarctica. Quebec and Manitoba in Canada filled in. Yes,the penguins are spared — yet.

SHALINI LANGER

shalini.langer@expressindia.com