Infini

A new name to me, Shane Abbess directed Gabriel in 2007, a movie that didn't rake in the cash but gained a cult following, and he made the move to Hollywood. That was around six-seven years ago. To paraphrase Abbess, he was an Aussie independent filmmaker, which meant he was always fighting against what he wanted to do. That ever elusive final cut, or at least something close to creative control. Unsurprisingly, coming from our minor film industry, Abbess wasn't versed in how Hollywood works: like a business, and this resulted in the butting of heads. Remember Source Code? Not a bad film. Shane worked as director for two years until creative differences had him fired. So Shane decided to come back to Australia, deciding to make the most anti-Hollywood, anti-conventional movie he could.

Based in 2027, the world is mining planets across the cosmos via slipstreaming – a form of teleportation that we are told is considered dangerous due to risks involved. No further details are given as the film thrusts us into a frenetic opening scene, multiple superiors questioning soldiers over and over. Here and elsewhere through the film, the sound-editing is brilliant. The scene becomes more chaotic as questions overlap answers, to the point where nothing intelligible can be heard. We again are given no explanation, and the scene quickly ends, leading us to the start of the narrative proper where we meet rookie solider Carmichael and his new squad.

Without explaining the entire film, the premise is that resources are mined from planets across the cosmos via slipstreaming. It does not take long for the action to start as a squad returns from a mission in very bad shape. It isn't clear what has happened, but what is immediately clear is that the building is locking down, resulting in a lethal quarantine. Barely ten minutes into the movie and the action has begun.

We are then taken to another part of this outfit, a search and rescue team. They have a mission to achieve on a far planet, a former mining base that has been shut permanently, and as their superior is explaining the mission he hears about the incident we have just seen. One person survived, and he did this by slipstreaming out of the building onto the same planet their mission is targeting. This giant coincidence is easily swallowed though by the action that follows. The soldiers find Carmichael, but there is something very different about this planet, as the team soon learns. An unexpected guest suddenly crashes the party in violent fashion and the movie explodes into action, as this sequence leads to an outbreak of sorts, not an original premise, but the nature of the outbreak most certainly is. The less I write and the less you read about the plot the better. Go in blind, and don't watch the trailer! Infini is far from perfect; the character development is pretty thin save for lead Carmichael, and the action scenes are shot in that awful style where the camera is too close and switches angles far too often. Why forty different angles are needed for one action sequence I don't know, but it doesn't look good. The final act maintains the tension for the most part, but the final sequences felt underwhelming and almost disappointing given the unique ideas already established.

In contrast to this though, the path the film travels down is most certainly different, and at times oddly disturbing. There are many thoughtful themes at play, which unfortunately aren't explored further. The psychological element of this film is its strong point, with characters often a serious threat to themselves. Hallucinations are shown in a very erratic and immersive way, while the sound is used well again to create a distorted sense of reality that matches that of the characters. The use of special effects looks great too, as does most of the camera-work. This certainly doesn't look like it was shot in one massive shed. MacPherson is simply brilliant, nailing the range of emotion Carmichael goes through with ease. Pretty damned good for a TV-hack! 4/5 – Infini isn't a must-see film, but it certainly is for anyone who loves sci-fi, and is one of the more unique films I have seen in a while. A little too conventional in its execution to be anti-Hollywood, but the imagination is there in spades. Recommended!

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Overall I think this was a good movie. The acting was convincing, the characters came across naturally and with conviction. It's not a complicated film to understand. You find out what goes on gradually as the characters do and that's a nice touch, keeping you in suspense as you don't quite know what's happening or what comes next. The movie pulls you into its world, the storyline was plausible as far as futuristic sci fi's goes, the characters kept you engaged and you felt for them as they struggled. I would recommend this film if you're a fan of sci fi's, and to those who aren't because it doesn't use silly effects to keep you engaged, it has just the right balance. Fun, entertaining mind twisting thriller.

Limited budget done right.

My only negative point is, the script can't keep up the good promise it's building, in the final half hour. If these guys had the budget of one of the ultra boring new Star Wars movies, God knows what would have happened.

The blender references is actually a thumbs up. Take a bit of everything (horror, psychological and so on) and make it work. Love it.

The atmosphere is perfect, the entire movie, it's an art. The acting is good, not stellar, but nobody drags the movie down, so the entire cast delivers. Enjoyed it. CG are good and support the movie and it's not a movie build around CG.

Whoever did the music of the movie, I was sublime.

This film borrows a lot from classic sci fi horror movies, you get some of the tech from alien, a little bit of Event Horizon, and has the claustrophobia of The Thing. For a movie made on such a low budget, its pretty good. Maybe not quite on the level of some of the films I've mentioned but still a lot of fun.

A group of colonial marines like characters start off on a search and rescue mission in a far away outpost. Who's alive? Who's dead? You don't really know at the start, but the movie takes its own twist which will be fun for sci fi fans. Its a little weak in the latter half of the 3rd act, too many repeating scenes. I think some things could've been cut.

Overall, its an enjoyable sci fi horror movie. It knows what it is, the actors play their parts well. And even though it borrows heavily from earlier works it still has a fresh ending. Worth checking out especially because this genre is sadly neglected.

This movie had something in it which makes me ask why only 5.4/10 at IMDb... The movie has all ingredients to entertain, a good dialogue script, a very unique and an engaging plot, a proper ending, well portrayed expressions from all the actors. Somewhere in the movie you might think of set problems in the camera, sometimes you might try to predict the ending but this thing was way off all that, a total surprise.

Frankly speaking I found animation in a few incidents compromising, but the movie makes for all of it. This movie is way better than 80% Sci-fi stuff we usually find everywhere. Don't hesitate, a very good thriller to watch.

8/10 from my side.