Whiteout

This rather ordinary adaptation of an award-winning graphic novel marks director Dominic Sena's second collaboration with producer Joel Silver (their first was 2001's Swordfish). Impressive snowy vistas and isolated landscapes aside, it's a bog-standard stolen-cargo thriller enlivened only by some blizzard-buffeted set pieces. Investigating Antarctica's first ever homicide, US Marshal Carrie Stetko (Kate Beckinsale) is caught between the cold and a cold-blooded killer when the murder trail leads to a buried Russian plane that crashed in 1957. Matching the lightweight plot in acting terms, Beckinsale isn't commanding enough to be credible - a factor not helped by her striptease entrance and distorted flashbacks to the inevitable troubled past. With the vague slasher and blurred sci-fi plot contortions adding nothing of a suspenseful nature to the lackadaisical narrative, this muddle is more wipeout than whiteout.