This isolated-location thriller starring Kate Beckinsale (Underworld) and directed by Dominic Sena (Kalifornia) didn’t get much love from critics or audiences when it was dumped into theaters last fall, but it actually proves to be a decently entertaining time-killer.

Beckinsale plays a U.S. Marshall stationed at an Arctic research station who, a mere two days before her gig is up, finds herself investigating the connection between a dead body and the mysterious contents of a big silver box found inside a 50-year-old cargo plane buried in the snow.

There’s nothing especially original about any of it, inaccuracies abound and the ultimately mundane nature of the contents hardly seems worth all the running around in subzero surroundings. And the doozy of an opening, which shows how said plane ended up where it did, is completely unnecessary, as it gets rehashed later on anyway.

Yet the movie managed keep me guessing, and Sena moves things along efficiently, abstains from flashy editing, and succeeds in creating and sustaining tension when it counts, like when Beckinsale and a fellow government agent (Gabriel Macht) battle a bad guy during the extreme title conditions. The massive storm that brings on those conditions is impressively rendered, too.

The beautiful Beckinsale is basically eye candy here–her gratuitous shower scene reps the movie’s most memorable moment–but she also doesn’t embarrass herself. The screenwriters even try to give her character some dimension via her reason (seen in flashbacks) for being in the harshest place on the planet, a reason that predictably evolves to mirror her current predicament.

The film benefits most, however, from the welcome presence of Tom Skerritt. As the station’s doctor, the 76-year-old actor provides the somewhat silly proceedings with whatever warmth, charm and depth they possess. But he also creates a curious camaraderie with Beckinsale that, to me, is almost as intriguing as finding out whodunit. - [DVD]

Action/Crime/Drama/Mystery/Thriller

Rated R

DVD Release Date: 1/19/10

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