Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

Infinity Pool Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf April 13, 2023

Brandon Cronenberg hasn’t been shy about following filmmaking interests associated with his father, David, with the pair looking to tackle societal and emotional issues through surreal storytelling and violence. With 2012’s “Antiviral” and 2020’s “Possessor,” Cronenberg did a wonderful job establishing himself as a helmer to watch, figuring out his own way with tales of diseased minds and severe consequences. With “Infinity Pool,” Cronenberg comes dangerously close to self-parody, once again exploring a hazy world of human corruption, only without a sharper sense of storytelling that made his first two endeavors quite memorable.

James (Alexander Skarsgard) is a frustrated author unable to enjoy vacation time on a remote resort with his wife, Em (Cleopatra Coleman). He’s drawn to Gabi (Mia Goth), a stranger who confesses her fandom, drawing closer to the author. During a late-night drive, James accidentally kills a local, soon facing the community’s sense of punishment, where James is cloned, forced to watch his double murdered by the dead man’s son. Instead of being horrified by the situation, he submits to the pleasure of it all, following Gabi and her gang of libertines into a behavioral abyss, experiencing life lived on a whole new level of freedom, which soon comes with a heavy price.

“Infinity Pool” takes viewers into the murky waters of feelings, with James numb to the world around him, finding his depressive experience shaken up by the arrival of Gabi. She’s a temptress, making her intentions known to the writer, and Cronenberg’s script details this strange seduction, which initially seems like it’s headed in a sexual direction, only to reveal a far more bizarre intent. There’s a mystery in play involving Gabi’s focus on James, but “Infinity Pool” doesn’t approach it in a direct way, as Cronenberg strives to soak in the juices of confusion, tinkering with relationships and realities. It should make for a fascinating ride into moral and corporeal corruption, but it mostly feels uneventful the third time around, with the filmmaker too caught up in his plans for disorientation, declining to generate a dramatic hold with James’s odyssey into the unknown.

Infinity Pool Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The AVC encoded image (1.78:1 aspect ratio) presentation does well with color, offering distinct primaries with surreal freak-outs and nightmare realms. Costuming brings out more subdued hues, along with interiors, while greenery is distinct. Skin tones are natural, and bloodshed is vivid. Detail examines a great deal of skin surfaces, which offer interesting textures as bodily harm, art displays, and psychological tours are prioritized by the production. Resort views are dimensional, carrying into living spaces and the killing arena. Delineation is satisfactory. Very mild banding is intermittently detected.

Infinity Pool Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA secures clear dialogue exchanges, capturing increasingly hostile communication among the characters. Scoring handles with authority, with defined instrumentation and heavier beats, offering some low-end response. Surrounds also push out music on occasion, while sound effects and atmospherics are active at times.

Infinity Pool Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There is no supplementary material on this release.

Infinity Pool Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

"Infinity Pool" plays like a Great Value version of a David Cronenberg picture, with the writing's study of wealth, privilege, and the luxury of kink too on- the-nose for most of the run time, while dips into surreal visuals don't feel organic to the drama. Instead, the showiness of "Infinity Pool" seems to be covering the writing's lack of depth, with Cronenberg testing patience as he tries to wring two hours of screen time out of a 30-minute idea. There's certainly care put into screen textures and editorial showmanship, design elements too, but after the first act, the feature pretty much gives up trying to introduce interesting avenues of horror and commentary. It stops to rest long before its over, leading to a somewhat taxing viewing experience with a director who's previously reached greatness, unable to find freshness in a story and world of pain he, and his father, have visited before, and with much more interesting things to say about the ugly realities of human compulsion.