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Monday, June 8, 2015

Infini Review


Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

Plot Summary: A search and rescue team must stop an alien organism from teleporting to Earth as antics ensue.

Review: I decided to watch this film on a whim and, wow, what an absolute mess. The editing alone was turning my brain to sludge with all the jump cuts, missing scenes, and pointless plot tangents. I was dying of laughter reading a few 10/10 reviews; let's pretend those are studio plants or paid reviews, shall we? This is a prime example of my script-in-a-blender phenomenon--simply stringing together random elements from every sci-fi horror in existence and adding nothing else; you name it: "Dead Space," "Aliens," "Prometheus," "Event Horizon," "Pandorum," etc. they're all here in some shape or form. Worse, they put no effort into making sense of this incoherent story. I mean, they couldn't even figure out writing 101 techniques such as not introducing a plot element that has no bearing on the story whatsoever. For example, in the future 95% of the population lives in poverty. Okay, now what? The story never addresses the significance of that statement and the characters don't appear to be among that 95%. But it's more than that...you get one character pointlessly pregnant that amounts to nothing. There is a dirty cop type person who seemingly disappears from the script. There is this setup with the main guy's friend that is abandoned...that never has relevance. There is supposed to be a new chick learning the ropes...that amounts to nothing. There is a guy retiring...that amounts to nothing. And this goes on and on. It's rare to see a lack of focus of this caliber.

So the main guy, Whit, does, well, whatever he does until his facility is attacked or something. I don't fucking know. Everyone is supposed to get killed but Whit teleports away before they get to him. Speaking of which, teleportation has become so common that you can go to virtually anywhere in the galaxy instantly. Yeeeeaaah...I'm calling bullshit on that. Isn't 95% of the population living in squalor? How are we making these kinds of advancements still? Plus, if humans are easily colonizing the galaxy, send people off Earth. Besides that, this teleportation makes little sense. How do they account for matter possibly overlapping the same space? They quickly mention it's dangerous, but it looked casual in the movie with little technological guidance. Also, you're really going to add time dilation to this mess? Uhh, no. Don't over complicate an already asinine plot.

Getting back on point, Whit ends up at this outpost or whatever where an alien organism has taken over humans and made them crazy. The alien is similar to a virus and it's trying to gain consciousness or something. Honestly, it makes little to no sense. One of the infected people is trying to send a shipment of this alien to Earth, but Whit inadvertently stops him by freezing all the infected people to death. This is also something you will notice--a ton of shit happens off screen. A team is sent to rescue Whit and make sure this alien shipment can't get to Earth, but they look like amateurs. They claim to have plasma weapons in the future yet they need conventional weaponry on this trip...hmm, a lot like a certain movie with aliens. The rescue team becomes insta-BFFs with Whit, like they've worked with him for years or something, but shenanigans ensue as that one infected guy that started this mess is magically alive and manages to infect the majority of the rescue team. Well, they're no colonial marines that's for fucking sure. In fact, two people who weren't around for this event still manage to get infected somehow. That editing, man. Whit becomes infected too but his will is just too strong to be fully controlled supposedly. Right.

The film begins to seriously drag as everyone still alive/infected meanders about pretending to be all philosophical. What is life? Really, you're going with that? What is a script supervisor, should have been your question. They claim the alien is a kind of primordial ooze that is also parasitic. How can it be a parasite if there's nothing to feed on?! There would need to be another life form on this planet. They claim the alien has insane regenerative properties yet the infected die easy enough. Finally, the reason it makes people crazy is that the alien believes that is basic human behavior due to its own lack of true consciousness. Believe me, this is all presented and explained in the least helpful way possible.

To save the day, Whit pretty much just whines to the aliens about there being more to humans than violence and the aliens resurrect everybody. They do leave it a bit ambiguous as to whether or not the real people are dead and now they are one with the aliens. Does it even matter? I like how everybody gets a new set of clothes pulled out of their asses. Whit and the rescue team all lie about coming into contact with an alien and the aliens have merged perfectly to fool human technology. The movie simply ends with Whit going home to his wife and that's it. Pitiful.

I can't stress enough the incoherent nature that these order of events are presented; my explanation is simply an attempt at summing up what shit I saw flashed in front of my eyes. I want to say the story was pretentious as I'm sure many will defend this pathetic editing as "artistic vision" but it's really just sloppiness. Despite being an all around mess from start to finish, there are a few redeeming qualities that stop the score from plummeting alongside the likes of "Jaws in Japan" and "The Haunted Dollhouse." For example, the set designs were great considering the low budget. The acting is acceptable as I could sense the actors trying to make the most with what little they had to work with. Some of the makeup effects looked pretty cool on the infected people, and I liked the use of Whit periodically having glowing red eyes due to effective lighting. Lastly, there was a hint of intrigue early on as you try to figure out what's going on...it just doesn't last very long. Overall, this is a slightly below average film with a terrible story that comes off like the ravings of a meth addict scribbling down a story with the ashes from their pipe.

Notable Moment: I don't even know...maybe when that one dude keeps running around screaming "medic" over and over.

Final Rating: 4.5/10

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