Infini
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INFINI - film review
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Daniel Macpherson, who plays the film's main character Whit Carmichael, is pictured here with INFINI's primary architect Writer/Producer/Director Shane Abbess.
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INFINI stars Daniel Macpherson as Whit Carmichael, a survivor of an ill-fated search and rescue mission to the space colony of the film's title. Whit is a computer programmer who, like many in the film's preamble about deteriorating conditions on Earth in the 23rd Century, has been forced into a dangerous occupation (intergalactic search & rescue) just to make ends meet for him and his pregnant wife. Things go awry when, on his very first mission, Whit is forced to make an emergency 'slipstream jump' in order to avoid a deadly contagion that has made its way to Earth.
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Events take a turn for the drastic when it becomes clear that the contagion originated at the INFINI station and one of the surviving inhabitants of the station has gone completely mad and plans to send the deadly intergalactic ooze to Earth to infect its population. A last-ditch rescue mission is mounted to save the planet and locate Carmichael in the process to determine if he can shed any light on what happened at the station. The team, comprised of some familiar names from the Australian film and TV industry, 'slipstreams' to INFINI, where their twenty-four hour journey will register as little over a minute in Earth time. Mucking around with time makes for an interesting MacGuffin and Abbess fails to capitalize on some of the natural story-telling opportunities to exploit this plot device. It’s clear, however, that Abbess and Brian Cachia (the film’s other writer) didn’t want to make Back to the Future. They wanted to pay homage to the great science fiction and horror genre film-making of a by-gone era when writers, directors and producers took risks with their material and sought to impress audiences with originality.
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The creation of an appropriate atmosphere is important in belieiving what is being shown to the audience ... INFINI, despite budget limitations, achieves a high production design standard, with the space station sets recalling classic 1970s and 1980s science fiction films like Ridley Scott's ALIEN and John Carpenter's THE THING and "selling" the story.
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Once at INFINI, the rescue team don't take long to locate Carmichael, but soon after the body count begins to mount, as the elite rescue team succumb one-at-a-time to the contagion. The story becomes a little bit by-the-numbers through the mid-section as the body count progressively increases. Abbess does a nice job of off-setting the demise of his characters by keeping the film visually interesting and allowing each of his characters enough screen time in preceding scenes for their death to register emotionally with the audience. Besides MacPherson, Luke Ford’s Chester Huntington is the stand-out among the supporting cast. His Alpha-male smack-down with MacPherson toward the end of the film is highlight, as the two characters oscillate between friend and foe as they battle each other and their own deteriorating faculties. Among the dark themes, their ham-fisted antics bring some welcome levity to the story just when it needs it.
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For film that was made under severe budget restrictions, there’s little doubt that Abbess and his crew have created a film that punches well above its weight in terms of quality. Some of the performances are uneven and could have been toned down, but the story does require the mania to ratchet-up as events hurtle toward the conclusion. At 110 minutes, INFINI runs longer than the standard Australian science fiction film. By comparison, These Final Hours ran for 87 minutes and Predestination ran for 97 minutes, but INFINI never feels long. It’s no coincidence that the movies that Abbess cites as inspirations for INFINI, such as John Carpenter’s The Thing, Blade Runner and Alien run for 109, 117 & 117 minutes respectively. The relative lack of visual effects, by comparison to today’s tent-pole movies, in older movies is a key reason for shorter running times and Abbess has had to do the same, focussing on story and character to help reward the viewer’s investment in his vision.
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Could this be the cause of all the problems afflicting those who dare to venture aboard the INFINI space station? Once again, budget restrictions became the mother-of-invention, with thought-through design solutions helping reinforce the focus on strong narrative and character inter-action.
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Finally …
If you intend on watching INFINI, please do so legally. You can rent the film on digital download for as little as $5.99 or you can buy it outright for $19.99. The only way Australian audiences will get to see more films like INFINI is if their distribution is supported via the payment of the rental and purchase prices set by the various download companies such as iTunes and Google Play. Shane and his team worked extremely hard to get this film made and distributed; you can acknowledge their dedication by watching the film legally.
If you intend on watching INFINI, please do so legally. You can rent the film on digital download for as little as $5.99 or you can buy it outright for $19.99. The only way Australian audiences will get to see more films like INFINI is if their distribution is supported via the payment of the rental and purchase prices set by the various download companies such as iTunes and Google Play. Shane and his team worked extremely hard to get this film made and distributed; you can acknowledge their dedication by watching the film legally.
Infini production informationSet in the dark reaches of space, INFINI is the story of an elite search and rescue team transported to a distant mining station to save Whit Carmichael (Daniel MacPherson) who is the lone survivor of a freak accident. Using Slipstream technology the team must transport into a hostile environment and quarantine a lethal biological weapon, which is set to arrive on Earth within the hour.
Filmmaker Shane Abbess is best known for his 2007 fantasy action debut, Gabriel, which is one of the most commercially successful independent Australian films of all time. The INFINI ensemble cast includes MacPherson, Grace Huang, Luke Hemsworth, Kevin Copeland, Dwaine Stevenson, Harry Pavlidis, Louisa Mignone, Tess Haubrich, Bren Foster and Luke Ford. Filmed and post-produced in New South Wales, the film is the first project from Storm Vision Entertainment, the joint venture label of Storm Alley Entertainment and Eclectik Vision media group. INFINI premiered at 2015 Gold Coast Film Festival on April 12, 2015 with Abbess, producer Matthew Graham and co-writer/composer Brian Cachia joining MacPherson, Huang and Hemsworth in a Q&A following the screening. Select talent also joined Supanova Pop Culture Expo panels in Melbourne 11 April and Gold Coast 18 April. Internationally, INFINI enjoyed its World Premiere at Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival that same weekend, with other international film festival announcements to come. |
"Home" clip from Infini"Door opens" clip from Infini |
Infini production images
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