Director: Antoine Fuqua
Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sophie Cookson
Genre: Action, Thriller, Sci-Fi Synopsis: A man discovers that his hallucinations are actually visions from past lives.
‘Infinite’ is the new film going on Paramount + and stars Mark Wahlberg as Evan, a man with diagnosed schizophrenia who discovers the visions he has are of his past lives. Now, he has to prevent the end of the world by a friend (Chiwetel Ejiofor) from his past lives turned evil, but will Evan remember enough of his past to save the world in time? This film starts as an interesting concept but falls on its face with dated characters and a seemingly uninterested lead that may be aware of the absurdity of what the films trying to accomplish.
To be honest, aside from ‘Southpaw’, I’ve not seen much of director Antoine Fuqua‘s work. Training Day is next on my list. The film has a lot of action, explosions, and guns. If you want to turn your brain off to enjoy that alone you may end up liking this more than I did. There is a lot of fun Sci-Fi concepts and world-building that I liked too, this isn’t a world that I would be opposed to returning to had they nailed this first film. But in the end, what makes me recoil from recommending it is because it not only couldn’t stick the landing but in casting Mark Wahlberg sent a very clear and outdated message that Hollywood needs to move on from.
Evan’s previous lives were that of Samurai Warriors, Native Americans, and other races that he has to remember as the film progresses. To the film, this allows Mark Wahlberg to still be the lead actor while making it harmless for him to appropriate things like samurai sword-making and fighting, and not casting a lead actor of that specific ethnicity. To me, this has similar themes of when people condemned Scarlett Johansen for (Insert Film Here), Matt Damon starring in ‘The Great Wall’ or recent ‘Cruella’ star Emma Stones portrayal of an Asian-American character named ‘Allison NG’.
The point I think I’m trying to make is we can do better than what ‘Infinite’ is. The concept and story work just fine and I think if given to the right lead could have been very entertaining. The other issue is that Wahlberg just doesn’t seem to care about his performance here. It reminded me of his performance in ‘The Happening’, or any film Bruce Willis has done in the past 5 years, his heart just wasn’t in it.
Overall, ‘Infinite’ is a big whoosh that is more disappointing by the wasted potential it had. There is still some impressive fighting and action, but if you also see the issues I do it will likely leave you will a bad taste in your mouth rather than a fun dumb action sci-fi film.
