Infinite
review by Bobby Blakey
Antoine Fuqua is one of my favorite directors out there bringing some great flicks to life including Training Day, Southpaw, The Magnificent Seven and The Equalizer films. Now he is reteaming with his Shooter star Mark Wahlberg for their latest flick Infinite co-starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Dylan O’Brien, Jason Mantzoukas and Rupert Friend. Could their latest effort bring the expected action and fun or will it not be worth reincarnating?
Infinite follows Evan McCauley who has skills he has never learned and memories of places he has never visited haunt his daily life. Self-medicated and on the brink of a mental breakdown, Evan is sought by a secret group that call themselves "Infinites," revealing to him that his memories may be real - but they are from multiple past lives.
This is one that went under my radar until about a week before it debuted. Not sure if they didn’t do as much promotion for it or what, but it almost felt like it got dumped kind of quickly to Paramount + without a lot of support. After further checking it looks to be yet another victim of the pandemic of 2020 and was bumped from theatrical release to the streaming platform, but now it is making its way to home release. Either way I was excited to check it out being a fan of all things Fuqua and Wahlberg usually a pretty strong draw to the action world.
While I ended up enjoying it the film isn’t without its flaws. Wahlberg is fine in the role, but something felt off. Not sure if it was the tone of the character itself or just his stoic way of bringing the role to life, but it never fully works all that great. What is interesting is that on the other side of the coin is Dylan O'Brien playing a similar character in a much smaller role and he is great in the part. I almost think it would have worked better had they switched them out to more fit the personalities they each had. The always great Ejiofor is once again great here as well, but felt too sidelined to really bring more menace to his great character. I am sure this is how the book is on some level so nothing he is at fault for other than just wanting more of it.
The story is interesting and works to create a very Matrix like world that offers up great potential, but does get convoluted at times. Where the film really shines is the action and there is plenty of it. From the opening sequence to the end there are numerous high octane car chases, fight scenes, shoot outs and everything in between to entertain. A lot of them are over the top, but work to fit the ideas presented in this universe.
While I was hoping for more and think the casting switch would have made this film work way better, I still found it to be a fun action packed ride worth checking out.
In addition to the film this release offers up bonus content including numerous featurettes taking you behind bringing this film to life. Grab your copy of Infinite available now on digital and then on 4K, Blu-ray and DVD on May 17th from Paramount Home Entertainment.