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| Images courtesy Bleecker Street |
The highly respected A-Lister Naomi Watts stars in the new survival film, Infinite Storm. The movie is based on the true story of hiker and volunteer rescue worker Pam Bales' battle against mother nature as she attempts to save herself and a lone man during a treacherous snow storm. They face a battle against time as they descend Mt. Washington despite the frigid temps and steep terrain which looks to destroy them. The resulting run time is an absolute cinematic disappointment for all involved in this feature.
The film which could have played into the same type of tense narrative as 127 Hours or any other movie about man facing mother nature is a poorly executed drama that fails to allow Watts to use her skill set to its fullest. Based on a bare bones script that doesn't speak much for Bales' heroics, this 2022 release is already riding atop a mountain of the year's worst. Even as Bales expounds on the tragic loss that befell her prior to this excursion, we feel absolute disconnect from her character as directors Malgorzata Szumowska and Michael Englert dispatch a nearly unwatchable theatrical release that simply does not entertain but instead grates.
All real life tales do not transition well to the movie format. Sometimes they're better left as a novel or a different type of translation. And sometimes they're just better left unsaid. Infinite Storm does have a great core story about endurance and how we can transcend the loss of our loved ones, but the editing and nearly amateurish cinematography fail the subject matter and leaves all tension at the door. There's just not enough excitement in Infinite Storm to carry an hour and 38 minutes. And the few moments of action are so poorly shot, they carry no realism or weight whatsoever. Adding in a terrible acting bid from Billy Howle, this should have been relegated to the Amazon Prime bargain rental slot.
Based on the article High Places: Footprints in the Snow Lead to an Emotional Rescue by Ty Gagne, this story of a woman against the elements is sleep inducing and rides a fine line between adapting her heroics and sheer boredom. Transitioning from the rescue back to Pam's real life, their messaging is lost in a melodramatic conclusion that only narrowly escapes all the other massive failures of the movie.
Infinite Storm adds no style to the substance that it's based on. Playing it so safe with the story does nothing for moviegoers as they typically need something to make them feel they're living in the moment along with the main players.
-CG
