INFINITE (Film)

THE MAKING:

The film "Infinite" was released on the 10th of June, 2021 on Paramount+. It was originally scheduled for release on theater on 7th August, 2020 but was delayed due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. Infinite was written by Ian Shorr. It was actually written to fulfill a challenge made by D. Eric Maikranz. The challenge is that a Ten Percent advance would be given to anyone who successfully pitched a film adaptation of his novel titled "The Reincarnationist Papers".

Around November 2018, Paramount spoke with Antoine Fuqua to direct the film, the announcement was made on February 2019, and on that same February 2019, it was reported that John Lee Hancock provided rewrites on Ian Shorr's script. Around September 2019 the filming of Infinite began. The scenes of the film were shot at; Farnborough Airport, Ex Rothchild Stately Home, Cardiff, an indoor ski facility, The Snow Center, Mentmore Towers in Buckinghamshire, in New York City, Mexico City, London, Guanajuato, Scotland, Nepal, Cambodia and The Alps.

THE PLOT:

Intro-

There are among us, people gifted with the perfect memory of all their past lives, they call themselves Infinite. Among the Infinites, two groups have vied for power, on one side, the believers, dedicated to using their knowledge for the protection and growth of all humanity, against them stand the nihilist who see this power as a curse. New technologies have given a nihilists and opportunity to end all lives on earth, and the race is on for it's control.

The Last Life-

Mexico City, Year 1985, Heinrich Treadway is running from both the authorities and an enemy named Bathurst. Heinrich and his associates Abel and Leona talked about an object which they called "The Egg", apparently, Heinrich stole it from Bathurst. Heinrich hid the object and after realizing that he won't survive, told Abel and Leona "If I Fail, Look Inside" then drove off a bridge, Sword and briefcase in hand, jumped out from his car in mid air, crashed onto a crane 150 feet away and just in time to see a truck run into Abel and Leona and they summersaulted. Leona told Abel that she'll find him in the beginning. Treadway watched as Bathurst arives the scene of the accident and killed Abel and Leona.

The Present Life-

Evan McCauley found himself having dreams that feels soo real, he finds it difficult to find a job due to his past institutionalisation and Violent behavior, also, he suffers from Schizophrenia and couldn't afford his medication. Because of his financial issues, he went and forged a Katana for a local gangster, how he knew he could blacksmith, he had no idea. The deal didn't go as planned, Evan escaped but was captured by the police that same night.

While in custody, he was questioned by a man whom he has never met. The man is Bathurst. Bathurst made him remember most of his pasts and said they were friends in their past lives. Mid interrogation, Nora arrives, rescues Evan and takes him to an organization where she's an associate. She explained to Evan that there are about 500 people in the world who can remember all their past lives, they're the infinites and that Bathurst is a nihilist and wants to stop reincarnating and also wipe out the human race.

Bathurst and Nora both believe Evan McCauley is Heinrich Treadway and that Evan has the knowledge of where "The Egg" the device created by Bathurst to end the world was hidden. Nora and her associates who are the believers want to get Evan to reveal where the egg is hidden so they can keep it away from Bathurst before Bathurst gets it or tortures the information out of Evan's. As Nora explains things for Evan's, she Nora, is Leona's reincarnation, she said infinites starts at their younger age to remember things and by the time they reach puberty they've remembered all, that Evan's case was as a result of the trauma he experienced from the accidents he had. Bathurst Murdered Heinrich Treadway shortly after killing Abel and Leona, the believers retrieved his body and took it back to their hub and kept it in a chamber.

Nora's associates began retraining Evan's memory to combine the both physically and mental to develop neutral pathways to help him not just in his memory but to also face Bathurst. Bathurst killed Bryan Porter a friend of Nora after tutoring him to reveal the whereabout of Evan McCauley. Bathurst and his associates went down to the organization of the believers to get Evan, killed most of the believers and traced him to the Artisan's club house there he installed a chip through one of Artisans workers to enable him see when Evan reveals where Heinrich hid the egg.

Evan got his full memories back, he remembers that Bathurst used to be Treadweay's comrade and they used to fight side by side each other for centuries but Bathurst along the line switched, he began plotting to end the world, and his obsession led him to creating The Egg, The Egg was designed that once it's activated, it'll attack the DNA of every living being and destroy lives. Evan found out where Heinrich hid the egg when he said "Look inside", Heinrich slashed open his belly and hid the egg. Once he told them, Bathurst sent his associates to prevent Evan, Nora, Artisan and co from leaving the building so he can go to the believers' organization and retrieve the egg from Heinrich's body. Bathurst kills two believers in Artisan's office, found Treadway's body, transferred him to Scotland and took the egg there.

Nora went after Bathurst and tries to shoot him but Bathurst was lucky to see it before hand through the reflection on the silver spoon he was holding and dodged the bullet. Bathurst then sends drones and his men to hunt down Nora, Evan rescues Nora but Nora was later injured. Bathurst tries to escape and activate The Egg but Evan went after Bathurst. Artisan and Nora went inside Bathurst chambers and saw souls trapped by Bathurst with chips. Evan lands on top of Bathurst plane, Bathurst pilots the plane to throw Evan off it, Evan while trying to hang of with his sword, noticed that he could control the wind just as Heinrich, with that, he entered the plane. As Bathurst and Evan fought each other, Bathurst cut the ropes holding the device with the egg inside it and it flies out of the plane, Evan jumped out of the plane to stop the device, Bathurst followed him, they fought mid air but Evan managed to stop the device from completing it's countdown, shot Bathurst with his dethroner which ensures that Bathurst will never be reborn. Evan drowned in the ocean with the egg. Nora destroyed the chips freeing the souls of the believers Bathurst trapped, including Abel's, she died in the process.

Years later, Nora and Abel were reborn and they met again in the beginning. Evan was also reborn in Jakarta, Indonesia. The much older Artisan came to see him with his Katana and Evan recognized him immediately.

 

RATINGS:

As interesting as this film is, it will surprise you that it has very poor ratings, it received unfavourable reviews and was compared to The Matrix.

The New York Times rated the film as one of the worst films of 2021. 

TY Burr of The Buston Globe wrote "Heading straight to streaming Paramount+ without the embarrassment of appearing in theaters first, the movie is both blissfully incoherant and wierdly generic, as if it had been assembled from the spare parts of other movies and glued together with stunt work". He rated the movie 1.5/4 stars.

Peter Debruge in his review for Variety called the film "Matrix-meets-The Old Guard wannabe" and wrote "The more you start to nitpick this movie, the more innumerable it's pot holes appear, until the whole thing collapses on itself".

Robert Daniels of RogerEbert.com said "Rather than crafting a high-concept science-fiction marvel, Fuqua's Infinite relies on shoddy VFX and ropey world-building for the worst film of his career" he gave it 0.5/4 stars rating.

On Rotten Tomatoes website, the critics consensus reads "An initially intriguing sci-fi thriller that quickly veers into incoherence, Infinix is as inane as it is inconsequentia". On the review aggregator, 16% of 75 critics' review of the film are positive. It has an average rating of 4.1/10.

CASTS:

Dylan O'Brien as Heinrich Tread way (1985)

Tom Hughes as Abel (1985)

Joana Ribeiro as Leona (1985)

Robert Friend as Bathurst (1985)

Mark Wahlberg as Evan McCauley/Heinrich Treadway (2020)

Sophie Cookson as Nora Brightman/Leona (2020)

Chiwetel Ejiofor as Bathurst (2020)

Jason Mantzoukas as Artisan

Toby Jones as Bryan Porter

Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson as Kovic

Raffiella Chapman as Jinya

Kae Alexandra as Trace

Wallis Day as Agent Shin

Liz Carr as Garrick

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