Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Infinite Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman May 20, 2022

Mark Wahlberg and Antoine Fuqua, who collaborated together on Shooter, reunite for Infinite, a "sad state of affairs" movie that is quite possibly the worst of either of their careers. The film, based on the 2009 novel The Reincarnationist Papers by D. Eric Maikranz, builds a compelling narrative hook but quickly fumbles it away through a deluge of pitifully poor performances, lackadaisical scriptwriting, underwhelming plot dynamics, stale action, and so on and so forth. The end result is a film that is barely watchable and only partway coherent. It's no surprise it never even went to theaters and even less of a surprise that it earned the ignominious honor of accruing several well-deserved Golden Raspberry nominations.

The film opens with dryly delivered narration that sets the background for the film (which is also repeated by an even lesser performance later on by a sleepwalking Sophie Cookson): “Infinites” are a small subsect of people – there are about 500 in total – who remember all of their past lives. There are two sects: The Believers are dedicated to protect and grow humanity. The Nihilists see the power as a curse and set out to destroy the world. Now, new tech has afforded the Nihilists the opportunity to destroy the world and a battle for control of this technology has begun. In the middle of it all: Evan McCauley (Wahlberg), a schizophrenic with a history of violence who can’t land a job to pay for his medication but who does craft, by hand, Samurai swords which he sells in exchange for his much-needed pills. When he finds himself interrogated by the cunning and dangerous Bathurst (Chiwetel Ejiofor), he begins to piece together the truth that his schizophrenia is actually a window into his past lives, that he is one of these few “Infinites.” Now, teamed with Nora Brightman (Cookson), Evan finds himself in a battle for the future which will be fought with the help of, the past.

This is barely watchable tripe. The problem isn't the story -- there's actually a decent foundation here for a heady Sci-Fi Action film -- but rather how the story is told. Somehow the enormous talent involved in the making of the movie stumbles about with barely any obvious acumen for how to tell an interesting story beyond concept pitch. Infinite does offer a coherent story insofar as the crude details are concerned, but it quickly becomes apparent that there's little effort to build it into a compelling tale. The film distances itself from the audience rather embrace its viewers and work to fold and invest them into the story. This a hollow and detached experience which is not helped by its rote action and familiar drivers that refuse to break from tired genre conventions that might have held up to a higher yield narrative construction but which here feel only like another nail in the coffin every time a car speeds through or a bullet flies across the screen.

Wahlberg spends much of the movie with a dumbstruck look on his face, and not because his character is coming to terms with the truth of who he is but rather because the actor realizes what a ginormous mistake he’s made attaching himself to this. Wahlberg, who can obviously carry a picture, can’t make much with a story that is both complex yet devoid of any depth. Co-star Sophie Cookson every bit earns her Golden Raspberry nomination. Every other actor and character are forgettable, including Chiwetel Ejiofor, usually so dependable and a towering screen presence, here reduced to bad dialogue and a stiff effort.

Infinite Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Infinite looks infinitely good on Blu-ray. The picture sports that unmistakable digital sheen. Clarity is excellent and the end result is a superior level of textural elegance and detail exactness on display in every frame. The image boasts resoundingly deep and detailed skin textures, for example, but is well capable of revealing fine stitching and fabric characteristics in clothes and, of course, complex components in every environmental nook and cranny. Color output excels; there is no want for bolder tones or improved contrast or color temperature. Everything that should pop, pops. Everything that should look less dramatically intense holds to its own characteristics. The image sports wonderful black level depth, superb white balance, and refined skin tones. Noise is minimal and there are no major source or encode anomalies of concern. This is a top-tier Blu-ray image from Paramount.

Infinite Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Paramount brings Infinite to Blu-ray with a Dolby Atmos soundtrack that is typical of a big budget contemporary Sci-Fi/Action track. It is appropriately large and endlessly clear and detailed. Action scenes are, of course, the highlight for the barrage of intense yet well-defined and exacting sound elements that produce, well, infinite stage saturation and dynamic goodness. Surround engagement is steady, subwoofer output is as prominent as it needs to be, and the track never has a problem in drawing the listener into the mayhem and transforming the listening area into the center of action, including some well-integrated, but not necessarily discrete, top end characteristics. The track is expert at handling quieter moments as well, yielding positive atmospherics. Musical engagement is excellent, featuring stout front side presence and, like the action, balanced surround and subwoofer content. Dialogue is clear and center positioned for the duration.

Infinite Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of Infinite includes four featurettes. A digital copy code is included with purchase. No DVD copy has been bundled. Note that my copy ordered from Amazon did not ship with a slipcover.

• They Call Themselves Infinites (1080p, 7:43): Cast and crew recount the plot, talk up the picture's positive qualities, set design and props, and more.
• The Kinetic Action of Infinite (1080p, 8:56): As the title suggests, this piece explores the making of several of the film's biggest action scenes.
• Anatomy of a Scene -- Police Station & Forest (1080p, 12:55): A closer look at making two more of the film's key scenes.
• Infinite Time (1080p, 5:11): Exploring the concepts behind, and the making of, the film's ending.

Infinite Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Infinite is infinitely forgettable. Where a commendably strong film might have been is instead reduced to cut-rate genre moviemaking that admittedly looks slick, but which is clearly and painfully hollow underneath. That the film is at least technically sound is about the only good thing that can be said of it, which is a shame because Antoine Fuqua is one of this reviewer's favorite filmmakers. Everyone's entitled to a bad movie, I guess. Paramount's Blu-ray is not bad at all, so fans should be pleased in that arena. The video and audio presentations are about as top-notch as they come and the studio has bundled in a few extras, too. Skip it.