Disappointing
Summary
Infinite has some impressive action scenes and is for the most part well paced but the story never really grabbed me and I didn’t care about any of the characters. The visuals for the finale are pretty bad but if you are looking for loud, empty spectacle then you may find more to enjoy here than I did.
Plot: The hallucinations of a schizophrenic are revealed to be memories from past lives where he obtained talents that he still has to this day.
Review: A new action movie from director Antoine Fuqua is usually worthy of celebration as he is (in my opinion at least) one of the best action filmmakers working today.
His latest picture Infinite stars Mark Wahlberg who plays Evan McCauley, a man who discovers that his hallucinations are actually visions from past lives. Adapted from the novel The Reincarnationist Papers by D. Eric Maikranz, Infinite as a concept is a little hard to swallow to say the least and because of this it’s hard to get emotionally involved in the story. There are a few interesting ideas but I wish we had more time to explore the concept of reincarnation and the past lives as it all feels a little rushed; as it is it’s a straightforward and loud action spectacle.
What’s wrong with that, I hear you say? Well I never really cared about any of the characters which is a shame as there are some slick action scenes, especially the explosive opening. You can have all the cool chases and explosions you like but if you don’t care about the characters then it’s hard to keep invested.
To be honest Infinite lost me from the second trailer when you see Mark Wahlberg riding a motorbike onto the wing of a moving plane; the CG is awful but at this stage of the movie I had mostly tuned out.
There is a lot of talent involved and I loved every second featuring Chiwetel Ejiofor as Bathurst, who is a hateful villain. Mark Wahlberg does the best with what he can but Evan just isn’t all that interesting showing little personality. The script is bland too with no memorable dialogue so by the time we reach the end credits like Evan you’ll struggle to remember anything.
There are a few fight scenes and it is certainly well paced so if you’re just looking for a fun distraction for an hour and 45 minutes you could worse.
The music score is mostly just loud noises, and I didn’t notice any tune so it’s not something I would listen to outside of the movie.
Overall, Infinite isn’t short on spectacle with several impressive set-pieces but the CG-laden finale is beyond dumb and the concept itself is a hard pill to swallow; if you can get past that then maybe add another star to the rating.