A sci-fi actioner that I feel like we don’t see much anymore, INFINITE is a movie that does NOT feature a Marvel or DC character, is not a sequel or something based on familiar material. So before you click off this review because you have lost interest already, think back to the time when movie theatres used to show movies from an original screenplay and were designed to entertain action movie fans, like me.
Mark Wahlberg stars here as Evan who seems to be really down on his luck. As the movie opens he is trying out for a management position at a restaurant but is not hired due to a past incident. This enrages Evan who is trying to do better, but his past mental issues are nagging at him. Turns out there is more to this than he thinks, as suddenly he is picked up by Bathurst (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and investigated. Right as an incident is about to happen, in comes Nora (Sophie Cookson) and the mystery continues.
It turns out that once an Infinite dies, they are reincarnated as someone else and it takes a certain kind of special magic for them to remember their previous powers. For Evan, I really liked how it takes a bit of time and thinking to figure out exactly who he is, and this is when INFINITE really picks up and becomes a boat-load of sci-fi action fun.
What was nice to see here is that INFINITE didn’t go the GROUNDHOG DAY route, where I felt this movie was going in its first act. Filmmaker Antoine Fuqua really pulls out all of the stops here; he broke onto the scene many years ago with TRAINING DAY and has had action movies everywhere from THE EQUALIZER to OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN and more intimate movies like the recent THE GUILTY on Netflix. Here he is in full major studio movie mode but it’s all so slick and professional, right up to a fight sequence on a cargo jet that makes absolutely no sense but it still entertained me. This is also a movie where Mark Wahlberg successfully drives off a cliff with a motorcycle and lands on the wing of the same cargo jet. Just go with it.
Sadly, INFINITE didn’t even make it to theatres and made its debut on the new Paramount+ streaming platform, which is a bit of a shame. Part of it of course is due to the current pandemic but I really wish I had a big bag of buttered popcorn and was watching it on a gigantic Cinemascope screen. INFINITE is beyond silly but it works.
About the 4k Release:
While streaming is improving in quality, 4k Blu Ray is still the way to go for the best home video experience, and boy does INFINITE not disappoint. It’s an incredibly visual movie to start and this clean, sharp HDR transfer is full of rich color. It’s heavy on blues and greens throughout, but the real star here are the deep blacks and realistic skin tones. The Dolby Atmos soundtrack is very loud and full of surround use and will give whatever system you have a full workout.
The only extras here are just some production featurettes, but they are all also in 4k/HDR quality and it was a lot of fun to see all of the behind the scenes creation and especially the ample use of green-screen and computer effects along with some practical ones. You can really feel the behind-the-scenes joy here, and once again I wish this made it to theatres to see all of the visual and audio beauty on the big screen. That said, this 4k disc really does a great job in getting you closer.
INFINITE is now available on 4k Blu Ray Disc. Thanks to Paramount PR for sending along a copy for review.