FILM REVIEW - Infinite
By The Masked Medic
You know it’s not always comic book and TV show reviews up in here. Occasionally I do also watch films. I completely understand that I should probably watch more but when you’re a high functioning procrastinator, it’s quite difficult. Initially, I thought I’d sit and maybe watch a Marvel film since I’ve not done a review of those for a while, but then I realised that I had so many other recent films that I had on my watchlist. So without further ado. Tonight’s feature premiere is ‘Infinite’
‘Infinite’ is the story of a group of special individuals who have lived multiple lives through reincarnation. They retain their memories and their skills as they go. However, over time, the group has split into two groups; “The Believers”, who believe that it is their responsibility to use their skills and knowledge to help mankind advance, and “The Nihilists” who simply want to destroy all life. Enter Evan McCauley, a schizophrenic man who is struggling to make ends meet. Evan begins to have these unusual flashbacks and when he is found with a katana that he’s forged in a specific way, he’s picked up by the police and interrogated by Bathurst, the leader of the Nihilists. Just as Evan is about to be tortured, he’s rescued by Nora, a member of the Believers. She tells Evan that he is Heinrich Treadway, a Believer who stole “The Egg”, a bomb to end all life, from the Nihilists in the ’80s. She says they need to find that bomb before Bathurst can and she takes him to the base of the Believers where they attempt to use their technology to recreate his broken memories. Unfortunately, it appears that the many incidents that have occurred in Evan’s life including his stint in a mental asylum and a crash that left him needing a metal plate in his head, have all caused a mental trauma that is preventing his memories from re-activating. Whilst the Nihilists take down The Hub, Evan, Nora and two other Believers escape to meet “The Artisan”, another infinite who has a machine that may be able to help. Evan’s memories reactivate, but not before Bathurst figures out the location of the Egg and retreats to activate his bomb. Can the Nihilists be found? And will Evan and Nora stop Bathurst? Well, you obviously have to watch the movie.
As one of the films created and released during the pandemic, I can understand why budgets essentially allowed for one or two big names. Evan was played by Mark Wahlberg, who does his best not to just be himself, however, there were certainly points at which it felt like they had cast someone older than they were actually looking for. That being said, given the level of action in the film, I can see why he was cast because he’s pretty much a certified action star. Chiwetel Ejiofor stars as the unnerving villain, Bathurst. I have to say, his performance was by far the highlight of the film, but at the same time, I was left wondering why on Earth he took the role? Maybe he was looking for something a little different, but there were moments when I felt like he had accepted it as charity work to be in the film. Aha! No offence. Rounding off the cast, in terms of the actors I know, were Dylan O’ Brien and Wallis Day. O’Brien plays McCauley’s previous reincarnation Heinrich Treadway and does a pretty decent job for the parts that he’s in. I’ve never really seen him as an action star, given that I still associate him with “Teen Wolf” but that all may be changing soon if rumours about him joining the DCEU are correct. Wallis Day plays Bathurst’s right-hand man— well woman, Agent Shin. I’ll be honest. I think she might have like 10 seconds of speaking time in the entire film but I guess exposure is exposure right? Jason Mantzoukas plays the Artisan, and although most of his roles feel the same, I think he’s hilarious. He and Taika Watiti would be an unstoppable duo.
Okay, so my actual thoughts about this film are a rather mixed bag. Let me start with the positives. I think the film had a pretty badass intro. I mean, no action film is complete without a high stakes car chase and it was a good way to get the viewers gripped. That theme of over-the-top action scenes continues throughout the film, and although they don’t add particularly much to the plot, they’re still fun to watch. This kind of links into my next point which was that there were obviously a lot of nice cars in the film, and sometimes it felt like I was watching a low-budget “Fast and Furious” film, which is saying something because I did not think I’d ever compare anything to those films, haha! An odd point which struck me, and perhaps it’s just me, was that I did not understand what accent Bathurst had. I could not place it. Sometimes I thought it was African. Sometimes Spanish. Sometimes French. A little clarification on why that accent might have helped. My overarching conclusion, however, is that the film was largely just action and no plot. The ideas were clearly drawn from certain religious beliefs in Hinduism and Buddhism, but the minutiae of the story did not make sense. I think the writers were a little bored in lockdown when they came up with the script too.
For some reason, I could not find, on the internet, any financial information regarding this film. I understand that Paramount couldn’t gauge how much money it made given that it was released on their streaming service, but I have no idea how much it cost to make this film. My belief is that a large part of the budget went on making sure the over-the-top action scenes were executed well and that they could pay for a few big actors to sell the film. The cinematography, despite this, was average in my opinion. There was indeed a lot of CGI used and used effectively I might say, but for the most part, this felt like a B-Class film. The music was not bad in some of the scenes, especially the car chase, but again, it was washed out by a rather subpar plot. Overall, this was an average watch. If you’re looking to watch something you have no intention of remembering, then this is the film for you.
Rating:
Story: ★★★
Acting: ★★½
Cinematography: ★★★½
Music: ★★½
Enjoyability: ★★★