Infinite (2021)

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I really appreciate Antoine Fuqua's career as a director. From the beloved classic Training Day to the highly entertaining The Equalizer films, Fuqua has demonstrated skillful handling of action sequences. As expected, Infinite delivers several fighting scenes and car chases, mostly riveting and quite enjoyable. The third act gets extremely over-the-top concerning the action set pieces, which are only tolerable due to a special yet underdeveloped character trait that ultimately justifies the more absurd moments. Mauro Fiore's camera work and Conrad Buff IV's editing are decent enough, but the last act features too much shaky cam and excessive cuts for my taste.

Story-wise, that's where things get tricky. Ian Shorr's screenplay boasts a genuinely interesting premise with exciting world-building to support it. However, the tiresome voice-over from Mark Wahlberg - who offers a good performance just as the rest of the cast - holds heavy exposition that's then repeated in dialogues across the movie, stretching the runtime unnecessarily. This narration rarely adds anything relevant to the story or impacts the viewer's opinion about the protagonist.

In addition to this, it's one of those films that carries tremendous storytelling potential but never reaches it. Personally, I truly find the concept intriguing, but its development doesn't leave the base of its premise. In fact, just by watching the main trailer, most of the world-building is given to the audience in those few minutes. Honestly, in better hands, this movie could have been the beginning of a new franchise with infinite - no pun intended- possibilities to make sequels, prequels, spin-offs, or even trigger the start of a TV show.

As it is, Infinite is nothing more than an inoffensively entertaining flick that could have been much, much better.

Rating: C

Jun 10, 2021

Pretty good watch, could watch again, and can recommend.

I feel like I had a lot of problems with this movie. The concept is good, but not very cinematic, so it feels like they tried to add action to "Ad Astra". With Mark Wahlberg as the main protagonist, a lot of the movie, as I could think was "Somwon stohl mah teddy bwear" so that ruined the vibe a little.

A large part of it is that the story takes place over centuries if not millenia, so clearly that's not part of the movie, so we miss out on caring about who these immortals are as characters. You're sort of just told to care about them.

For at least part of the movie I identified with the villains more because their plan is actually laid out with some level of clarity and a surprising amount of reason: kill everyone and there is nowhere to resurrect.

Sort of a fun interpretation of "When your enemy goes to ground, leave no ground to go to.".

Ultimately this is a high end cast, with plenty of money behind the production, so it looks good, and has an interesting concept, but just sort of falls flat on the execution. I just never really cared about the characters.

Jul 11, 2021

This is one of those films that has a solution right from the get-go, as plain as the nose on your face that by the end, or maybe even the end of the beginning (as Churchill might have said) you would cheerfully have applied to yourself... Poor old "Evan" (Mark Wahlberg) has an amazing memory, but is constantly hassled by vivid hallucinations that are driving him towards a mental breakdown. Somehow, though, some semblance of sanity rears it's head leading "Evan" to wonder if is he part of a plan to destroy all of mankind, or is he part of the solution that may just save it from Chiwetel Ejiofor's "Bathurst 2020" (sadly, no, not the Aussie motor car race)? The plot itself is quite interesting, and the overlapping memories creating the terrifyingly unstable state of our hero could have made for a much better effort had director Antoine Fuqua not tried to cram far too much into 1¾ hours. The sacrifices to characterisation and detail, coupled with the relentlessness of the action scenes (that actually serve to sterilise the plot, somewhat) just leave us with way too many holes and a totally undercooked story. Wahlberg is well passed his best, and though Sophie Cookson tries hard as "Nora" the whole thing just gets lost in it's own maze of confusion and poorly adapted dialogue. Sadly another example of a film that threw money at the talent and the look, but scrimped on an intelligent screenplay.

Mar 27, 2022

Infinite, starring Mark Wahlberg and directed by Antoine Fuqua, offers an intriguing premise about reincarnation and ancient rivalries but struggles to deliver a memorable experience. While the acting is serviceable—Wahlberg and Chiwetel Ejiofor bring energy to their roles—the characters lack depth, making it hard to connect with the story.

Visually, the movie has its moments, with solid action and effects, but the direction feels bland, and the pacing drags. The plot quickly becomes convoluted, relying too much on exposition rather than building organic intrigue. It’s watchable for the action, but ultimately forgettable and unlikely to warrant a rewatch. A decent one-time watch, but not much more.

Dec 14, 2024