Ten Stars or Less

run time: 110 mins
rated: 14A
considered: Action, Crime, Mystery
starring: Kate Beckinsale, Gabriel Macht, Columbus Short, Tom Skirrett

movie summary: U.S. Marshall Carrie Stetko tracks a killer in Antarctica, as the sun is about to set for six months. (www.imdb.com)

Kate Beckinsale stars as Carrie Stetko, the only U.S. Marshall working at a weather station in Antarctica. There is only like 100 people on the whole continent where winter is year round and the landscape is buried in ice. She has been stationed at the base for a few years since almost losing her life at her last post in Miami, Florida. One day Stetko gets a call about a dead body so with Doctor John Fury (Tom Skirrett) and pilot Delfy (Columbus Short) the trio fly out to discover a frozen corpse that is classified as Antarctica’s first murder.

Back at the weather station, the meteorologists notice a major storm headed their way which forces the base to start the evacuate process for the winter season. Stetko has to act fast to figure out where the dead body came from and who was behind this murder. During her trip to a different weather station she meets fellow U.N. Special Agent Robert Pryce (Gabriel Macht) who got a distress emergency call and headed down to see what was going on. Together with Delfy the pair of agents get a couple of leads and head back to piece together what they know. One of the guys behind these unexplained events learns that Stetko and Pryce are hot on the trail so he tries to turn the tide in his favor. Dressed in full winter gear he attacks Carrie outside of the station in the harsh weather which causes her get to frost bite. Delfy is found inside but he is  stabbed, meanwhile Pryce is nowhere to be seen so once Carrie wakes up she begins to think he is behind everything.

The last plane is heading out in a few hours but Carrie has no clue who is the real killer is. She is determined to find him even if it means staying for the winter season. Pryce returns and proves to Stetko that he is not connected to anything but has a good idea who is. They check the inventory sheets for the outgoing planes and there’s a few boxes unaccounted for from the science department which doesn’t make any sense considering there is only a handful of people left at the station. Stetko connects all the dots to learn the real motivate behind the murders, but has a hard time confronting the person behind everything.

my thoughts: Whiteout was not a box office success, barely making half its production costs back in ticket sales, but here is a movie I own and watch every so often on a cold night. This movie is just another murder mystery story where the agent investigating the crime has some personal issues but over comes the obstacles to catch the bad guy. Lots of these of movies happen a major city or somewhere in the country side, while some films have dealt with winter and cold, but not at the same level at Beckinsale does in Antarctica. The plot is simple and to the point with little to no extra sub-plots to clutter it up. There isn’t many places left in the world where a crime hasn’t been committed, so it is entertaining to watch the agents piece together the murder in -30 weather.

my star rating: 6 out 10