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I’m sure Mark Wahlberg , Chiwetel Ejiofor , and Toby Jones signed on to Antoine Fuqua ’s globetrotting sci-fi action flick “Infinite” with the best of intentions. On paper, the premise sounds like a killer idea: Reincarnated warriors locked in a centuries old war work to save humanity. On one side lies the good guys, the infinites. On the other, the nihilists. Here, the nihilist Bathurst (Ejiofor) is searching for a silver egg imbued with the power to end all life, thereby suspending reincarnations. Only one man, Evan McCauley (Wahlberg), has information about the weapon’s whereabouts. He just doesn’t know it yet.

”Infinite,” Ian Shorr and Todd Stein ’s adaptation of D. Eric Maikranz’s novel The Reincarnationist Papers, combines elements of “ The Old Guard ” and “ The Matrix ,” with a splash of “ The Fifth Element .” Unfortunately, the product falls far short of the lofty works from which it draws. 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. (Yes, worse than “ King Arthur .” Yes, worse than “Brooklyn’s Finest.”)

From the outset, the filmmaker tries to paint a wide canvas but fails to fashion a detailed visual language. In Mexico City, set during “the last life,” for instance, three infinites are involved in an elaborate car chase. As they wisp and wind down wide, empty streets, in a scene barely stitched together for semi-coherent action, nothing in the costumes, hairstyles, or architecture clues us into what decade we’re inhabiting. Fast-forward to the present “in this life” in New York City and a stream of compositions—a slow-motion bustling Manhattan street bathed in orange sunlight, and cranes reflecting off an office window—read like stock images.

Here, Evan is interviewing for a job at a fancy restaurant, a gig he could easily win if not for his troubled past. Years ago he assaulted a customer after they sexually harassed a waitress. Evan blames the incident on his schizophrenia. See, odd visions and voices often visit him. One moment he’ll dream he’s a Japanese sword maker, and then next, he’ll forge a sword. To keep these apparitions at bay, he takes extra-strength pills, buying them by selling his hand-made weapons to a local drug dealer. Outside of the problematic insinuation of mental health patients as inherently dangerous, Fugua places zero trust in the audience to follow the very basic plot. Rather Wahlberg provides a glorified temp track as the film’s voiceover, wherein with all seriousness he says, “These meds are running out. And once they do—shit gets real.”

Eventually, Evan pops on the respective radar of both Bathurst and the Infinite. Though Ejiofor plays Bathurst as a man warped by his mentally painful life—he just wants to die—that trauma isn’t felt at all. Ejiofor turns in a perplexing performance that elicits a bevvy of confounding questions rather than providing an actualized character. I couldn’t spot the genesis of his thick, obnoxious accent that borders on Saturday morning cartoon special in its wide specificity. Nor is Bathhurst’s origins comprehensible: Where does his immense wealth come from? Where are the other nihilists?

The Infinites invite similar question marks. A leader in the image of Professor X, the wheelchair-using Garrick ( Liz Carr ), guides the team. Her top soldiers include the tall, bearded Kovic ( Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson ) and the highly skilled Nora ( Sophie Cookson ). The team hopes Evan is the reincarnated form of Treadwell, the agent who first hid the egg. In the case of Nora, specifically, she wants to see her former lover again (his spirit is being imprisoned by Bathurst) and believes the egg can bring him back. The character dynamics between this trio and Evan aren’t at all built out. Rather Fuqua is handed this intriguing world but refuses to add contours to these heroes or their powers. The same goes for the group’s researcher played by Toby Jones, and a debaucherous neurologist portrayed by Jason Mantzoukas .

Instead, Fuqua is far more interested in the crafts driving the film. Which wouldn’t be a bad idea if the crafts were anything to write home about: The score thrums at an unmemorable rate. The fight choreography and execution is dreadful. In one scene, it’s excruciatingly clear that stunt doubles filmed an entire hand-to-hand combat sequence rather than Ejiofor and Jóhannesson. In another, wherein Evan and Nora raid Bathurst’s mansion, the editing is an epic mess that's impossible to follow due to poorly articulated compositions. And even if you could follow the onscreen action, you soon wish you couldn’t. Worst yet, the storytelling in “Infinite” never drives the tacky VFX—soldiers are seemingly suspended in air as wood shards shred them to death—and overabundant stunts like an acrobatic confrontation between Evan and Bathurst in the hull of a transport plane.

Without great characters and the aesthetics to match, “Infinite” is a misguided soft toss by Fuqua directed with franchise goals. You get the sense that its unanswered questions, such as the religious component of these powers, is purposely left obscured to cater future films. Instead, the obfuscation totally weakens this movie. In an action-adventure that concerns living multiple lives, don’t waste yours watching “Infinite.”

Now playing on Paramount+.

Robert Daniels

Robert Daniels is an Associate Editor at RogerEbert.com. Based in Chicago, he is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA) and Critics Choice Association (CCA) and regularly contributes to the New York Times , IndieWire , and Screen Daily . He has covered film festivals ranging from Cannes to Sundance to Toronto. He has also written for the Criterion Collection, the Los Angeles Times , and Rolling Stone about Black American pop culture and issues of representation.

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Film credits.

Infinite (2021)

Rated PG-13

Mark Wahlberg as Evan McCauley

Dylan O'Brien as Heinrich Treadway

Rupert Friend as Bathurst

Chiwetel Ejiofor

Sophie Cookson

Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson as Kovic

Jason Mantzoukas

Tom Hughes as Abel

Antoine Fuqua

Writer (based on the book "The Reincarnationist Papers" by)

D. Eric Maikranz

Writer (screen story by)

Cinematographer.

Mauro Fiore

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Infinite Reviews

With so many past lives to choose from, the filmmakers of Infinite still repeated the same mistakes when there should have been limitless possibilities. Instead, it’s an endless exercise in suspense-free filmmaking.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/5 | Oct 9, 2022

Infinite is at times comedically convoluted, but thanks to brilliant world-building and stellar action setpieces, it’s riotously entertaining regardless.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 1, 2022

Perhaps the movie’s biggest shortcoming is that it spends a lot of time talking about relationships from the past rather than building any meaningful new ones on screen.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/5 | Aug 17, 2022

"Infinite" has all the elements you'd find in almost any action film. It just slightly misses the mark by not going all in and fully immersing the viewer in its reincarnation concept.

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Jun 21, 2022

One of those grueling efforts that renders the science fiction genre about as much fun as a root canal sans anesthetics.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | May 21, 2022

The writing is so haphazard and choppy, and it leapfrogs over what needs to be explained... you don't have any emotional investment.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/4 | May 21, 2022

Brainless. The only skills the reincarnated team of assassins retain are fighting skills, leaving any provocative questions about transmigration unaddressed and any interesting ideas unexplored.

Full Review | Sep 17, 2021

What follows is a ploddingly predictable slog through a confusing combination of sci-fi cliches and vaguely mystical mambo-jumbo that basically strings out a series of mindless pyrotechnic set-pieces.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/5 | Sep 2, 2021

If you ever wondered what The Matrix would have been like if the lead was played by a fifty year old who was also kind of like Jason Bourne, here's your chance.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Aug 15, 2021

If it's empty-vessel escapism you're after, this wonkily watchable affair will deliver what little you need.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Aug 13, 2021

The visuals are spectacular, but things get increasingly derivative as they progress, and Jason Mantzoukas' ill-conceived comic-relief character falls clangingly flat.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 11, 2021

If you understand any of it, please enlighten me, because I am in the dark.

Full Review | Aug 10, 2021

The bad guys in Mark Wahlberg's reincarnation-themed action movie want to destroy the world so they never have to relive it all again. Having seen the film, I know the feeling

Full Review | Jul 14, 2021

Given the bona fides of everyone involved, it seemed reasonable to expect an entertaining adventure -- and at worst, dumb fun -- but the final product underwhelms at even the low end of expectations.

Full Review | Jul 13, 2021

...it unfurls more like an M. Night Shyamalan sci-fi misfire...

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Jul 1, 2021

This action film about reincarnation tries to relive the plot beats of countless better films. The end result is a derivative, messy and forgettable film.

Full Review | Original Score: C | Jun 25, 2021

Infinite boasts a high-concept story and extremely inventive action sequences, though Mark Wahlberg's performance leaves much to be desired.

Full Review | Original Score: 7 | Jun 23, 2021

Playing around with the concept of reincarnation is certainly promising, but Infinite makes the plot absurd for no reason. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Jun 22, 2021

I'll give points for finely crafted action sequences and a handful of bold casting choices, but beyond that, Infinite is decidedly, whole-heartedly average.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Jun 22, 2021

It's exactly the kind of big, silly, occasionally exciting spectacle that have come to define summer movie season, for better or worse. There's even an opening for a sequel.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Jun 18, 2021

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‘Infinite’ Review: Stuck in a Loop

Antoine Fuqua’s formulaic reincarnation thriller is weighed down by déjà vu.

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By Devika Girish

There’s an early scene in “Infinite,” Antoine Fuqua’s sci-fi thriller on Paramount+ , that feels like an outtake from a social-issue drama. Mark Wahlberg’s Evan McCauley attends a job interview at a restaurant, where the slimy proprietor grills him about his past struggles with mental health before dismissing him rudely. “Who’s going to hire a diagnosed schizophrenic with a history of violence?” a dejected Evan wonders in voice-over as he walks back home. I was disarmed by the human-size pathos of this scene: Evan’s got bills to pay and pills to buy, same as us all.

But “Infinite” is a movie about superheroes, which means that the stakes have to become, at minimum, planet-size. As it turns out, Evan isn’t delusional: He’s special . He’s one of a select group of souls, called “the Infinite,” who are born (and reborn) with the ability to remember all their skills and experiences from past lives. Among this lot are bad guys who want to blow up the world and good guys who want to save it. (That both factions employ similar methods — crashing souped-up cars through city streets with nary a care for collateral damage — goes unaddressed, though I wouldn’t be surprised if a sequel devoted itself to hand-wringing about the greater good.)

Chiwetel Ejiofor plays the snarling alpha villain, Bathurst, who’s so sick of rinsing and repeating his existence that he’s invented a device — elegantly named “the Egg” — to raze all of life. Evan stopped him in a previous go-round and must do so again, but first he needs to unclog centuries of memories and superpowers. And so Nora (Sophie Cookson), one of the good gals, whisks Evan away to a mystical Wakanda-like destination, home to a Xavier Institute–like research center, where he undergoes a Batman–like training routine to save humanity from a Thanos-like villain’s Infinity Stone–like totem.

There’s a joke to be made here about the oppressive déjà vu of a movie about endless reincarnations, but I’d feel like a broken record for making it. To demand originality from these algorithmic franchise-starters is to miss the point. But the problem with Antoine Fuqua’s spin on the formula is that it’s mostly formula and hardly any spin. It’s as if Fuqua and his writers (Ian Shorr and Todd Stein) found the source code to the genre and 3-D printed it without any of the primal thrills that make such blockbusters watchable: intricate, ever-expanding world-building; giant objects whizzing into each other with satisfying booms; charismatic characters defying death with panache.

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‘Infinite’ Review: Mark Wahlberg Reincarnation Thriller Will Leave You With Déjà Vu

Antoine Fuqua reteams with his 'Shooter' star for a high-concept action bonanza with a decidedly 'been there, done that' feel.

By Peter Debruge

Peter Debruge

Chief Film Critic

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One good thing that can be said about Mark Wahlberg -starring, straight-to-streaming reincarnation derby “ Infinite ,” in which a special group of humans are fortunate/cursed enough to recall their past lives: It’s the first film from Antoine Fuqua since “Bait” to clock in under two hours. That’s no small relief — especially given the never-ending threat of its title — in a summer where supersize offerings such as “Cruella,” “F9” and “In the Heights” are long enough to warrant intermissions.

Derivative as they come, this “The Matrix”-meets-“The Old Guard” wannabe mind-blower offers such a familiar premise — basically, that one man’s neurodiversity may actually be a window into the species’ untapped potential — as to be almost banal. That doesn’t stop excess expert Fuqua from packing a fair amount of big-screen spectacle into its relatively tight running time, though probably not enough to win many converts to fledgling streamer Paramount Plus (where the film has landed after multiple setbacks to its theatrical release).

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We’ll come back to how dumb this idea is, but since every movie needs stakes, I suppose we can accept the movie’s over-the-top premise that Wahlberg and his fellow Believers are the last line of defense from a Nihilist-led annihilation. Sure, these lucky souls could be writing symphonies or curing cancer, but it’s more exciting to watch Wahlberg ride a motorcycle off a cliff and land on the wing of a low-flying cargo plane — a plausibility-bending stunt not even the “Fast & Furious” franchise would dare. In any case, the stakes can’t help feeling wonky when all the main characters can count on being reborn every time they’re killed.

“Infinite” has been very loosely adapted from D. Eric Maikranz’s self-published novel “The Reincarnationist Papers,” about a secret society of people who can recall their past lives. (The writer famously incentivized his readers to help get Hollywood’s attention, offering 10% of any advance or option as reward.) Screenwriter Ian Shorr — and before that, Todd Stein, who still gets story credit — focuses on tortured soul Evan Michaels (Wahlberg), a diagnosed schizophrenic whose feelings of déjà vu are more well-founded than he realizes. Evan self-medicates to keep the visions in check, but has anger issues and strange habits, like forging artisanal katanas for local drug dealers.

The police are baffled, but not so Bathurst, who suspects that Evan may be his old adversary Heinrich Treadway in a new body. The first scene between these two is the movie’s strongest, playing off the discrepancy between what Bathurst knows and all that Evan has yet to discover about himself. After a tense tête-à-tête between the two characters, “Infinite” unleashes an explosive rescue sequence (spearheaded by could’ve-been-anyone co-star Sophie Cookson) that owes much to Christopher Nolan. Since “The Dark Knight,” walls no longer pose an obstacle to heavy-duty chase scenes, and this escape reduces a NYPD station to rubble.

Fuqua proves an effective orchestrator of creative set-pieces, pushing the limits of the PG-13 rating at times (no more than Nolan, mind you). If things tend to feel rushed, that’s a pretty clear sign that the movie must have been longer, but was compressed to just the most entertaining material for release. As such, we get people like Toby Jones’ Porter who show up for a couple scenes without much explanation as to their purpose, but haven’t been cut entirely because the writers had an original idea about how to dispatch them. (In Porter’s case, he’s forced to swallow a jar full of honey, which is much more disturbing than it sounds.)

Porter also finds himself on the receiving end of Bathurst’s other weapon, the “Dethroner,” a gun capable of wiping an Infinite’s brain for good. Now, this is where the movies stops making sense: If Bathurst’s goal is to spare himself the agony of remembering all his past lives, why go to such extreme lengths to exterminate all living creatures? Surely it would be easier to swallow one of these special bullets. Not that there appears to be much cumulative advantage to being an Infinite in the first place, especially if Evan has such trouble accessing his memory (although taking his shirt off seems to help). The more you nitpick this movie, the more innumerable its plot holes appear, until the whole thing collapses in on itself.

Reviewed online, Los Angeles, June 9, 2021. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 106 MIN.

Production: A Paramount Plus release of a Paramount Pictures presentation, in association with New Republic Pictures, of a di Bonaventura Pictures, Closest to the Hole, Leverage Entertainment production. Producers: Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Mark Vahradian, Mark Huffam, John Zaozirny, Mark Wahlberg, Stephen Levinson. Executive producers: Antoine Fuqua, Rafi Crohn, Brian Oliver, Bradley J. Fischer, Valerii An. Co-producers: Kat Samick, Max Keene, Janine Modder.
Crew: Director: Antoine Fuqua. Screenplay: Ian Shorr; story: Todd Stein, based on the book “The Reincarnation Papers” by D. Eric Maikranz. Camera: Mauro Fiore. Editor: Conrad Buff. Music: Harry Gregson-Williams. Music supervisor: Jabari Ali.
With: Mark Wahlberg, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sophie Cookson, Jason Mantzoukas, Rupert Friend, Toby Jones, Dylan O'Brien, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, Liz Carr, Kae Alexander.

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Mark wahlberg in antoine fuqua’s ‘infinite’: film review.

A confused man discovers his schizophrenic visions are actually memories from past lives just in time to save humanity in this high-octane sci-fi thriller debuting on Paramount+.

By David Rooney

David Rooney

Chief Film Critic

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Mark Wahlberg and Sophie Cookson in 'Infinite'

It’s an intriguing idea in theory to hitch the reincarnation beliefs of Eastern religions to a futuristic scenario of gifted souls with perfect recall of their past lives, split into good and evil factions at war over humanity’s survival. But Infinite is a soulless grind. Juiced up with a succession of CG-enhanced accelerated chases and fight action interspersed with numbing bursts of high-concept geek speak, Antoine Fuqua ’s sci-fi thriller isn’t helped by a lead performance from Mark Wahlberg at his most inexpressive. His character is basically a charisma void with a permanently furrowed brow suggesting brain strain. It’s no surprise Paramount shunted this thrice-delayed theatrical release to its streaming platform.

Full credits

Production companies: Di Bonaventura Pictures, Closest to the Hole, Leverage Entertainment Distribution: Paramount+ Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sophie Cookson, Jason Mantzoukas, Rupert Friend, Toby Jones, Dylan O’Brien, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, Liz Carr, Kae Alexander, Wallis Day, Tom Hughes, Joana Ribeiro Director: Antoine Fuqua Screenwriter: Ian Shorr; screen story by Todd Stein, based on the book The Reincarnationist Papers , by D. Eric Maikranz Producers: Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Mark Vahradian, Mark Huffam, John Zaozirny, Mark Wahlberg, Stephen Levinson Executive producers: Antoine Fuqua, Rafi Crohn, Brian Oliver, Bradley J. Fischer, Valerii An Director of photography: Mauro Fiore Production designer: Chris Seagers Costume designer: Jill Taylor Music: Harry Gregson-Williams Editor: Conrad Buff Visual effects supervisor: Pete Bebb Casting: Priscilla John, Orla Maxwell

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Mark Wahlberg’s Reincarnation Movie Infinite Needs a Few More Lifetimes of Work

If reincarnation were real, and you were able to somehow hold on to your memories across lifetimes, you would experience an off-kilter version of immortality. Your body wouldn’t live forever, but your awareness would, accruing millennia of experiences while having to start over anew each time, seeing existence from a different perspective. Because it wouldn’t be easy to hold on to wealth, much less status, knowledge would be the main advantage. There would be endless opportunities to learn languages, crafts, and sports; to study science, philosophy, and art; to delve into hedonism and asceticism and consider the nature of humanity.

Or, you know, you could use those lifetimes to learn how to deflect bullets with a samurai sword, which is what Mark Wahlberg’s character seems to have done in the new movie Infinite . The really damning thing about this ability is that it doesn’t actually look cool.

Infinite begins by explaining its premise via voice-over in blunt, back-of-the-book terms: There are people who can remember everything from their past lives, who call themselves Infinites; some of them, the Believers, work toward the betterment of mankind, while others, the Nihilists, look to end existence as we know it. When a movie starts this way, it’s usually because test audiences or executives deemed its setup too confusing. Here, maybe a half-hour in, a character seems to confirm that by delivering, almost word for word, the same description of what’s going on. But what makes Infinite confounding isn’t the recalling of past lives but what it opts to do with that idea, which is to use it for an off-brand riff on superpowers. Wahlberg’s character, Evan Michaels, isn’t simply a guy who was born good at everything but just hasn’t figured it out yet; he’s the reincarnation of Heinrich Treadway (Dylan O’Brien), the Infinite who figured out how to unlock parts of his potential that allowed him to do things “that others might call paranormal, superhuman.”

Mostly, though, Infinite feels like a depressing fable about the movie industry. Directed by Antoine Fuqua, the film is based on the novel The Reincarnationist Papers . Author D. Eric Maikranz self-published the book in 2009 with an eye on getting it adapted, which readers might have gleaned from the note on its first page promising a 10 percent cut to whoever could help him get a deal. Not the most dignified gambit, but it worked — at least to the point where the material could provide a nominal peg for Fuqua to assemble a string of shoot-outs and physics-free fight sequences so interchangeable they could be made modular and popped into or out of any big-budget action movie. As Evan, Wahlberg is meant to be playing a man plagued by memories that he has always assumed were hallucinations, having been diagnosed with schizophrenia at age 14 after an incident of self-harm. But the movie and its star are so impatient with any character development that Wahlberg just feels as if he’s playing himself, tapping his watch in impatience while he waits for the moment he gets to fight drug deals with a katana forged using past-life know-how.

There’s cynicism all around, from Maikranz’s mercenary approach to the source material to the way the movie was sloughed off onto Paramount+ to the fact that Wahlberg, who once tried to get his teenage assault on two Vietnamese American men expunged from his record, is effectively playing an Asian man reborn in a white guy’s body. Infinite barely tries to make sense of its own timeline: A flashback to Heinrich driving desperately through Mexico City, having made off with the movie’s MacGuffin, looks like it takes place in the present day instead of closer to 1970, as Wahlberg’s age would demand. As the villain, Bathurst, Chiwetel Ejiofor waterboards himself with gasoline and shouts all of his lines with the zest of an actor who realizes that nothing he’s doing matters. Jason Mantzoukas shows up briefly and gloriously as a character known as the Artisan, who has devoted his Infiniteness to excess, which is indicated by his wearing eye makeup. Sophie Cookson plays Tammy, who is around largely to tangle with Bathurst’s henchwoman, a fellow blonde played by Wallis Day, in the climactic scene.

And that’s the thing about Infinite — it doesn’t just waste the potential of its premise; it’s actively square in its thinking about everything, up to and including matching up its two main women to fight. Bathurst wants to end the reincarnation cycle by exterminating not only humanity but all life on earth, yet if it’s possible to be reborn as something other than human, none of the characters mentions it. In the world of Infinite , characters don’t even appear to be reborn as anything other than the gender they’re assigned at birth. Evan has just been a series of dashing tough guys over the eons, and Tammy and her Infinite lover are a perpetually hetero couple who keep reuniting at Angkor Wat. The film makes an aesthetic gesture or two toward Buddhism, but its view of the reincarnation cycle is generally agnostic, with no sense that the way characters behave in their current lives has anything to do with the situation they’re born into next. The most interesting idea in the movie is that Bathurst has created a gun that downloads an Infinite’s consciousness onto a drive, leaving that person in a digital holding pattern, unable to be reborn. But even that’s only seen in passing, a means of upping the stakes, instead of a horror to be explored.

Evan’s journey is mostly one of self-actualization in which he does upside-down crunches and fight training and then undergoes an experimental procedure that resembles nothing so much as an elaborate dermatological treatment. Funny how much reconnecting with your past lives looks like a day in the life of a movie star, as though those are the limits of the imaginations of the major parties involved. All the yearning in the world for more original fare from Hollywood won’t matter if the original fare is made to look and feel like everything we’re already being bombarded with.

vulture section lede
movie review
antoine fuqua
mark wahlberg
chiwetel ejiofor
sophie cookson
d. eric maikranz
jason mantzoukas

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Review: There are infinitely better things to watch than ‘Infinite’

Chiwetel Ejiofor stands in front of a seated Mark Wahlberg in the movie "Infinite."

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The silly, junky science-fiction thriller “Infinite” posits a universe where reincarnation is real and a few human souls have the ability to retain memories from their past lives. I wish I could leave it at that, but at the risk of too precisely replicating the leaden rhythms of the movie’s ceaseless voiceover, I must continue. These memory-retaining “infinites,” as they’re called, fall into two groups. First there are the nihilists, who think the whole damn system is rotten and want to destroy life as we know it. And then there are the believers, guardians of eternity who consider their knowledge a precious gift to be used for the betterment of humanity.

My own act of humanitarian service this week will be to advise you against watching “Infinite,” a directive that would appear to have the tacit endorsement of the movie’s own distributor. Once scheduled for theatrical release last August before COVID-19 delays set in, the movie arrives this week on the streaming service Paramount+, where it will patiently await its future reincarnation as an in-flight movie or a blip in a Mark Wahlberg career-highlights reel. Wahlberg plays Evan McCauley, a troubled dude with a violent past and a schizophrenia diagnosis. But those strange voices and hallucinatory visions aren’t signs of mental illness; they’re vestiges of the many bodies through which his soul has passed over the centuries, which explains his ability to speak Russian and forge ancient Japanese swords.

“Explains” is the operative word in Ian Shorr’s busy info dump of a script, adapted from D. Eric Maikranz’s novel “The Reincarnationist Papers.” Sharing most of the expository duties here are a lip-smacking villain, Bathurst (a wildly over-committed Chiwetel Ejiofor), who tries to jog Evan’s befogged memory, and a well-meaning young believer, Nora (Sophie Cookson), who tries to do the same. After all, Evan may or may not be the latest vessel for a mysterious, messianic figure known as Treadway (played in an earlier incarnation by Dylan O’Brien), whose actions could determine (yawn) the fate of humanity.

Mark Wahlberg tests out some high-tech acupuncture while Sophie Cookson looks on in the movie "Infinite."

The director, Antoine Fuqua , makes slam-bang action movies that occasionally rise above the workmanlike, usually when Denzel Washington is involved (“Training Day,” “The Equalizer”). He and Wahlberg made a proficient enough team years ago in the muscular conspiracy thriller “Shooter”; their reunion was not worth the wait. Much frenzied violence ensues, some of it dispensed in cross-cutting training montages designed to reawaken Evan/Treadway/Whoever’s latent gifts, and some of it in explosive set-pieces that feature remarkable new innovations in vehicular penetration. (If the sight of O’Brien smashing two dashboards with one brick doesn’t thrill you, the sight of Wahlberg using his sword to stab a jet plane in mid-air might do the trick.)

Little else about “Infinite” registers as particularly novel — or, despite some attention-grabbing turns from Toby Jones, Jason Mantzoukas , Liz Carr and Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, interesting. Wahlberg, who usually has a way with a cynical wisecrack, seems to sprain muscles trying to sell his character’s attempts at light-witted banter. The script doesn’t reincarnate so much as it recycles, drawing freely on the nested realities of “Inception,” the free-your-mind metaphysics of “The Matrix” and the amnesiac-assassin revelations of the Jason Bourne movies. Maybe watch one of those tonight instead. “Infinite” may last a finite 106 minutes, but transmigration of souls or no transmigration of souls, life is too short.

Rated: PG-13, for sequences of strong violence, some bloody images, strong language and brief drug use Running time: 1 hour, 46 minutes Playing: Available June 10 on Paramount+

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The concept of reincarnation has lent itself to numerous stories over the years and it gets a sci-fi twist with Antoine Fuqua's latest film, Infinite . Once expected to debut in theaters last summer, the Mark Wahlberg-starring movie, which is based on D. Eric Maikranz's The Reincarnationist Papers, arrives on Paramount+ today, making it the streamer's most high-profile cinematic debut so far. Infinite certainly has the star power to ignite some interest, and it's an entertaining ride with a compelling concept. At the same time, it buckles under the weight of its own world-building and suffers from a surprising lack of urgency. Between the stars and the action, Infinite has plenty of elements working in its favor, but the overall product still leaves one wanting.

All his life, Evan McCauley (Wahlberg) has been plagued by strange dreams and visions he can't account for. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia at a young age, but there's much more to the story. Evan soon learns he's known as an "Infinite," a person blessed with the gifts of reincarnation. Evan has died and been reborn thousands of times, meaning all of his visions are, in fact, real. He, along with several others, task themselves with protecting humanity from the Nihilists, or Infinites who have grown frustrated with their endless births. The head Nihilist, Bathurst (Chiwetel Ejiofor) aims to destroy Earth in its entirety with a MacGuffin known as the Egg, but the only person who knows its true location is Evan - or better yet, his past self Heinrich Treadway (Dylan O'Brien) does.

Related: The Best Movies On Paramount Plus

Reincarnation is a fascinating topic, and as the basis for a secret organization in a sci-fi movie, it's a pretty compelling one. Viewers are treated to quick flashes of Evan's past lives, and editor Conrad Buff IV does an excellent job cutting between those past glimpses and the present day, lending a genuinely disorienting feel to Evan's journey. However, Infinite isn't much interested in Evan's past beyond his last life, Treadway. It's a shame that screenwriter Ian Shorr (building on a story by Todd Stein) opts to avoid giving more weight to the past lives, particularly since several characters are hinted at having deep histories. This feels especially true when it comes to Evan and Bathurst, two practically immortal men with vastly different viewpoints.

As a result, Infinite goes without some emotional heft. As an action flick, it succeeds. Fuqua certainly knows how to stage engaging set pieces, whether it's a car chase that literally starts inside of a police station or one hero's stand against an opposing strike team that outnumbers him. Infinite is an entertaining ride, but a lack of depth with the characters and the mythology keeps the audience from getting too invested in the heroes' task. Though the fate of the entire world is at stake, there's a strange lack of urgency in the proceedings. The action is thrilling, but not quite in the sense that one is worried about whether Evan and his allies will be able to keep the Egg out of Bathurst's hands. Infinite instead feels like Fuqua couldn't dig into the material beyond its potential as an action film. Of course, that's not a bad thing if one wants an entertaining sci-fi thrill ride. But if one wants to delve deeper into the concept presented, Infinite comes up short.

Sophie Cookson and Mark Walberg in Infinite

Leading man Wahlberg handles Evan's disorientation, then commitment to the cause well. If there's a sense that Evan has adjusted to the reality of his being an Infinite startlingly quickly, that's more a script issue than anything having to do with Wahlberg's performance. He dives into the action with gusto and fares the best out of everyone in terms of character development. As the cynical Bathurst, Ejiofor growls and rages his way through an intimidating portrayal and he manages to give the villain some additional layers of depth as well. On the other end of the spectrum is Sophie Cookson's Nora. The Kingsman alum isn't given much else to do beyond provide exposition, leaving Nora's characterization feeling like a missed opportunity. The MVP of Infinite just might be Jason Mantzoukas as a wildcard known as the Artisan; he brings a comedic flair to the film and makes a mark with a character who arrives late into the action.

Infinite is the second movie to skip theaters and debut on Paramount+ and it's a shame it won't be seen on a big screen. However, this also means it can find a new audience who might not have been tempted to seek it out on Wahlberg's star power alone. For those looking for an intriguing sci-fi story with solid action, I nfinite will fit the bill. However, for those aiming to go a little deeper, it won't quite satisfy. But sometimes all one needs is a fun popcorn movie to fill a summer night. Infinite can definitely do that.

More: Watch The Final Infinite Trailer

Infinite is now streaming on Paramount+. It is 106 minutes long and rated PG-13 for sequences of strong violence, some bloody images, strong language, and brief drug use.

Let us know what you think of the movie in the comments!

Directed by Antoine Fuqua, Infinite is an action sci-fi film based on a novel that follows Evan McCauley, who discovers he has skills he never took the time to learn and memories that aren't his own. When Even is made privy to the existence of a secret group that knows why he experiences what he does, Evan is indoctrinated into the society of the "Infinites" to hone his craft. However, time is of the essence as one of the Infinites intends to destroy all life on earth to end the cycle of death and rebirth.

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Infinite Review

Mark wahlberg headlines an action-packed adventure about reincarnated warriors, but gets outshone..

Infinite is now streaming exclusively on Paramount+ .

From the start, Infinite feels like a throwback to late ‘90s action movies, in which a steely protagonist was tossed into a hi-tech world of mind-bending truths that demanded a man of action to save the world. This terrain was charted by a string of Batmen, Keanu Reeves (The Matrix Trilogy), and Denzel Washington (Virtuosity). This time, Mark Wahlberg brings his working-class snarl to a tale of reincarnated warriors and an eons-stretching battle for the fate of the world. While the story is fresh, the path feels familiar, for better or worse.

Reteaming with Shooter director Antoine Fuqua, Mark Wahlberg stars as Evan McCauley, a middle-aged outcast who struggles to find work or friends because of the voices in his head. Since he was a teen, Evan’s been told these voices and visions are proof he’s a schizophrenic. However, after forging a samurai sword with inexplicable ease, he’s outed as one of the few humans on earth who can recall all their past lives. These rare people are called the Infinite. A spin on superhero origins, their recall allows the reincarnated to be master warriors and brilliant strategists, who’ve honed skills over the ages. In each new cycle, the Infinites band together to use their powers to preserve and guide humanity. However, not all of the reincarnated are grateful for the memory of thousands of lives lost. Led by the brutal Bathurst (Chiwetel Ejiofor), an Infinite death cult called The Nihilists wants to die. The only way to assure they die for keeps is with a special egg that’ll bring on the end of all life on the planet. There’s just one hitch: the egg was last seen with Evan’s previous incarnation (Dylan O’Brien), so the fate of the world lies somewhere in his untapped memories.

Adapted from D. Eric Maikranz's 2009 novel The Reincarnationist Papers, Infinite pulls heavily from The Matrix, positioning an unsatisfied everyman (albeit with six-pack abs) as an unrealized messiah to all mankind. Also serving as an executive producer on the film, Wahlberg clearly relishes this power fantasy, flexing his 50-year-old buffness in shirtless scenes and bringing a simmering surliness to lines like, “Where I come from, we got bills to pay and rent to make. No one’s got time for destiny.”

Also, like The Matrix, this handsome misfit finds a community in a band of rebels, colorful though thinly defined. Kae Alexander has blue hair and martial art skills. Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson has a beard and a bad attitude. Liz Car has a wheelchair and a smirking sense of humor. You get the idea. The character development for much of the Infinites is only substantial enough to build the team, but not enough to have us emotionally invested when they’re at risk from the marauding Nihilists.

Even Evan is given little in the way of character depth. Schizophrenia, self-harm, and history of assault are peppered in as shortcuts to a harrowing backstory. However, the trauma such experiences would care are not exhibited but papered over by Wahlberg’s blank stare. Stern yet intense, he’s great at playing the tough guy, but when vulnerability is required, he’s missing the mark.

Only Infinite ass-kicker Nora (Sophie Cookson) gets much in the way of depth, thanks to flashbacks and a mournful monologue. She’s essentially the Trinity to Evan’s Neo, part guide/part sidekick. In a welcomed change, screenwriters Todd Stein and Ian Schorr don’t attempt to wedge in a romance. It would have been tawdry and awkward, as Cookson and Wahlberg don’t share a sexual spark. Instead, theirs is the chemistry of two world-weary soldiers, who have little patience but a deep loyalty to the cause. It’s actually refreshing that being in love isn’t a requisite for saving the world.

True to a dynamic that dates back at least to James Bond, Wahlberg’s steely hero must face off with an eccentric villain. Known for acclaimed performances in prestige dramas, Chiwetel Ejiofor appears to revel in the chance to get a bit weird with it, delivering an all-over-accent that is an aural smorgasbord. It’s ridiculous, but it works, reflecting all the times and places this Nihilist can’t shake. His every from-everywhere enunciation crackles with manic energy and the agony of a thousand identities shredding his brain.

The action sequences reflect this polarity of grit and garishness, busting out car chases, sword fights, hand-to-hand combat, and some truly audacious bits. Though the computer graphics sometimes fall into the regretful Uncanny Valley, some sections—like a scene involving a helicopter and motorcycle—are so bonkers that you can’t help but jump back on board. Still, the pace of all this action gets tripped up by a convoluted plot that Infinite tangles instead of unfurls.

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The whole Infinites versus Nihilists thing is explained repeatedly, often with a flurry of names of characters we’ve barely met. Making things more confusing, some of the names are hard to hear over the blare of screeching tires. Then, of course, there’s the tricky bit that multiple actors play the same character in different lives. (Think Doctor Who without time travel.) All this can make things murky, especially as dongles and subplots are introduced. Perhaps this is why a Wahlberg voiceover is plunked over the opening, explaining all the key points a full half-hour before his character will learn them.

While aiding in plot clarity, this Walhberg Explains It All introduction kills the tension of the first act, because we’re already ahead of Evan on who he is and what this world is really all about. Thus, scenes where Evan sneers through a job interview and gawps during a violent police interrogation fall frustratingly flat. We already know where it’s going. Let’s get a move on!

Infinite is a chaotic film. Plucking from well-worn cliches, it’s familiar enough to scratch the itch of action entertainment. Yet its world-building is so wonky you might do better to switch off your brain and let the flashy stunts wash over you. Wahlberg is staunch at its center, but relies on Cookson to bring in the pathos. Ejiofor is a thrilling foe. Yet the main reason I’d actually recommend this movie is for its scene-stealer: Jason Mantzoukas as a brain-fetishizing degenerate known as The Artisan. Once he swans in with mischievous gaze, crooked smile, and a wardrobe that seems snatched from centuries of club culture, Infinite briefly becomes a much more interesting film. This charismatic oddball brings a devil-may-care attitude that cracks Infinite out of the familiar action-movie mold, suggesting something truly unexpected might happen next. It won’t. But for a brief moment, it feels Infinite might rise to Mantzoukas’s level of fun. Here’s hoping some savvy director will promote this character actor to action hero. Can you even imagine what that movie might look like? I can’t either. But I bet it’d be more daring and rewarding than Infinite.

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June 11, 2021
Mark Wahlberg as Evan McCauley; Chiwetel Ejiofor as Ted Murray; Sophie Cookson as Tammy McCauley; Jason Mantzoukas as Peabody; Rupert Friend as Bathurst; Liz Carr as Garrick; Toby Jones as Kent; Dylan O'Brien as Heinrich Treadway; Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson as Kovic; Tom Hughes as Abel; Wallis Day as Shin; Kae Alexander as Trace

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Antoine Fuqua

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Movie review.

Evan McCauley makes swords.

It’s an unusual hobby, admittedly, especially in New York City. Most bored, unemployed New Yorkers would be more likely to pick up jogging, maybe, or the guitar.

Not Evan, though. He’s always been a bit different. Ask him about his interest in smithery, and even he doesn’t know where it came from. Why, his most notable experience with blades came at 14 when he carved the words “inside me” on his chest with a box cutter.

After that bloody interlude, doctors labeled Evan a schitzophrenic, and the kid bounced around hospitals and foster homes like a turbo-powered Rhoomba smacking against walls. Stability wasn’t any easier to come by as an adult. He found pretty good work as a restaurant manager for a while—at least until he broke a customer’s arm and discovered that acts of violence never look great on a resume.

Thus, paradoxically, the swords. Crazy, really, that Evan’s so good at blacksmithing. It’s not a skill they typically teach in psych wards. But as soon as he picked up a chunk of metal and a big hammer, he felt at home. And honestly, the hobby helps pay for Evan’s psych meds, too.

‘Course, New Yorkers shopping for handmade Samurai swords aren’t always the most stable of customers either. His latest—a drug dealer, of course, with just the sort of anti-psychotic that Evan needs—wanted to use the blade to cut off his girlfriend’s arm. Oh, and he shortchanged Evan on his meds, too, and you can’t have that .

In the altercation that followed, the girl kept her arm and Evan kept the sword and the meds—but he also snagged an overnight stay in jail. He wakes up there and is promptly visited by a bearded man he doesn’t know but who insists the two of them are very old friends.

Strange? Indeed, but it’s British Baking Show -normal compared to what’s to come.

Soon the stranger’s pointing a gun at him, demanding that Evan recall his past lives. Then a well-armored sports car crashes through the wall, and the beautiful driver demands that Evan get in. A destroyed police station, a few explosions and dozens of major traffic violations later, Evan and the mysterious woman are boarding a private plane.

He’s not crazy, she says: Just reincarnated. And while most people don’t remember their past lives, a few—called the Infinite—do. He’s one of them, and an important one at that. See, somewhere inside his jumbled mind sits a very important secret. And that secret—a secret the gun-brandishing bearded man very much wants to know—could trigger the end of the world.

To Evan, it sounds like pure, delusional fantasy. But then again, he’s an unemployed restaurant manager who hammers out Samurai swords in his ample spare time, so maybe he should keep an open mind.

Positive Elements

Spoiler warning: The woman in the heavily armored, police-department-destroying Aston Martin is trying to save the world, along with a few of her Infinite friends. And saving the world, in my book, is always a good thing.

Moreover, she and her ilk have been trying to do the world favors for literally hundreds, perhaps thousands of years. “We believe that our gift is a responsibility,” she tells Evan. “It’s up to us to leave humanity better than when we found it.” This is exactly what my mother told me when she took us out to pick up litter.

You could fairly say that she (the woman in the movie, not my mother), Evan and others risk their lives in pursuit of this noble goal. Sure, cynics might argue that their lives are literally expendable, given that they get an endless supply of them. But the bad guys—nihilists who want to end the cycle of reincarnation by destroying the planet—have a way of keeping those constantly rebirthing souls out of circulation. Plus, death tends to hurt. So it’s not like these immortals don’t have skin in the game.

Spiritual Elements

Obviously, reincarnation is a thing here. The world of Infinite contains no promise of heaven or hell, as far as we know, which pushes it well outside the bounds of a traditionally Christian worldview. But it’s not really pushing another organized faith, either. Reincarnation—at least in how it manifests in the Infinite—seems more of a naturalistic process.

Evan himself notes the differences between this version of reincarnation and those of the religions that believe in it. Buddhists, Hindus and Sikhs all believe, he says that “each life begins with a clean slate.” The fact that he and his compadres are supposed to remember everything about their past lives goes against those traditional belief systems. Moreover, the cycle seems devoid of karma: There’s no risk of bad people being reincarnated as moths or good people finally reaching a state of Nirvana. The reason that the nihilists are so keen on destroying the world is that there’s no hope of getting off the wheel.

That said, Infinite is loaded with plenty of nods to Eastern religions. The headquarters of the good Infinite (who, incidentally, call themselves the Believers) looks a bit like a Buddhist Rivendell, surrounded by huge Buddha statues and waterfalls. The ancient temple of Angkor Wat—which has been affiliated with both Hinduism and Buddhism—is tagged a place of frequent meeting for a pair of Infinite do-gooders. A woman appears to meditate.

Meanwhile, the film’s main evildoer, Bathurst, hangs out in what appears to be an old church, where his acolytes waterboard him as he seems to chant Latin. When he argues with a fellow Infinite who says a little faith would help Bathurst not be quite so nihilistic, Bathurst says, “I’m tired of faith. God must show me His face.” Later, he wonders whether “He’ll let us do this.” Bathurst could be referring to Evan, of course, but context (and a tiny flick of a finger upward) suggests that he might be referring to a more divine figure.

Sexual Content

A couple holds hands in their last moments of life, and in flashback we see them kiss as well. Because they are both perpetually reincarnated, though, they know they’ll meet again. Indeed, one of them tells Evan that she and her beau have been together for hundreds of years, and at the end of each life they always plan to meet at the same designated spot—Angkor Wat—to renew their acquaintence. We see them both as teens, in fact, holding hands at the ancient temple.

An Infinite known as the Artisan is described as the ultimate hedonist: “Infinite lives, infinite opportunity for debauchery,” someone says of him. We see a bit of that on display in a casino the Artisan apparently owns, with some of the female guests dressed in cleavage-and-midriff-baring outfits. He may wear a bit of makeup, and when someone calls him a “him,” he shoots back, “I resent the gender labeling.”

A woman, apparently topless, is shown from the back. (She soon puts on a robe.) A character wears what looks to be a hefty bra as her main top. Evan goes shirtless once or twice. We hear that Evan broke a restaurant customer’s arm after the customer grabbed the behind of a waitress.

Violent Content

People treat their bodies rather carelessly when they know that, when their current model expires, they’ll get a shiny new one. One man solders a huge gash along his side with a cigarette lighter. Another subjects himself to a weird drowning machine. (Don’t ask.) Several die in explosions.

Bathurst has invented a special Infinite-disposing gun that he calls the Dethroner. It fires bullets that, if they strike an Infinite in the head, automatically download the unfortunate victim’s consciousness onto something akin to a flash drive, which he stores in his castle. We see several people “dethroned” in this way, though it doesn’t seem to be a particularly bloody procedure.

Bathurst’s world-killing device is called the “egg,” and we see it used (in some sort of vision or virtual reality-like scenario). First, birds drop from the sky, dead. Then people crumble into dust (in what looks like a slower, more painful version of what we saw in Avengers: Endgame). The device destroys all life, thus restricting any vessels that souls could be reborn into, so the vision feels pretty dire.

A man has both of his hands punctured by arrows, pinning him in place. Someone is waterboarded with honey. A character is stabbed in the gut. A man falls off a roof and onto a car a few stories below. Someone loses fingers via a Samurai sword, and a couple of other folks are threatened by the same weapon. When two or more swords are present in a scene, people invariably fight with them. People fight with other weapons, too, sometimes nearly severing heads with swords or axes. A number of people are shot—sometimes several times. Helmeted security troops are dispatched via all manner of weapons, including knives to the throat. (These kills are largely bloodless.) In past lives, some Infinites were mountain climbers, and we see one hang off a cliff face while another attempts a rescue. Someone plays Russian roulette—pointing the gun at someone else. Bathurst is described as an “apex predator.” Martial training sessions get pretty rough. We see a cadaver with part of the skull cut off and the brain exposed. Drones shoot at things. We hear about an attempted suicide.

People drive terribly here—or, more fairly, they drive well but with a great deal of lethal force and property damage. For instance, a spinning tire spins a brick off the pavement, which careens through one car before smacking into another (leading to wrecks in both cases). Motorcyclists smash into open car doors, sending the cyclists flying. People leap out of the way of cars driving through walls and down hallways.

[ Spoiler Warning ] An Infinite cuts into his own abdomen and stuffs something inside before dying. Later, a person recovers the corpse, opens the abdomen and fishes around with his hand to retrieve that something.

Crude or Profane Language

One f-word and about 17 s-words. We also hear “a–,” “b–ch,” “b–tard,” “d–n,” “d–k” and the British profanity “bloody.” God’s name is misused about a half-dozen times (half of those with the word “d–n”), and Jesus’ name is abused twice.

Drug and Alcohol Content

As Evan regains consciousness in a recovery center (or somesuch) after receiving some serious injuries, he sees the Artisan keeping watch and playing guitar. “I’m doing your morphine!” The artisan gleefully tells Evan. Someone suggests earlier that he’s high. We see people with drinks in their hands, and someone expresses his longing for one.

Evan’s quest to get his anti-psychotic drugs is a focal point for him early on—and while he seeks to get them illegally, they were apparently once prescribed by a real doctor. And he uses them for legitimate, mental health reasons. (The drug dealer he goes through clearly sells other, less helpful and legal substances.)

Other Negative Elements

When first confronted with the idea that he could be a reincarnated soul, Evan brushes it off. He calls the concept a “comforting idea,” but it amounts to “the spiritual equivalent of better luck next time.”

We could say the same thing about this movie: Better luck next time.

Infinite is a high-concept sci-fi thriller that falls flat beneath the weight of its own conceit. It wants to say something about faith and purpose, but it’s not quite sure what. It wants to entertain, but its frenetic set pieces aren’t enough to divert us from the movie’s leaps in logic. The movie seeks to be a diversion for a large audience, but the violence, language and its chosen story centerpiece—reincarnation—certainly limit the movie’s reach.

While many films released during the still-lingering age of COVID deserved a bigger audience, Infinite feels like it’s found a fitting niche: To be seen by a few, unseen by most and quickly forgotten by all.

Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.

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Incomprehensible, emotionless sci-fi/action nonsense.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Good forces bravely face impossible odds and fight

Opening narration explains that "Believer" infinit

Character cauterizes a stomach gash with a car cig

Sex-related dialogue.

A use of "f--k." Also "s--t," "son of a bitch," "b

Alexa is mentioned.

Main character takes prescription meds, obtained f

Positive Messages

Good forces bravely face impossible odds and fight against evil forces in the name of humanity, but it's all so incomprehensible that it may be difficult to come away with any kind of inspiration.

Positive Role Models

Opening narration explains that "Believer" infinites like to use their knowledge for the betterment of humankind, but movie has almost zero examples of this actually occurring. Mostly characters cause all kinds of destruction. Tammy is strong and powerful but also comes across largely as a sidekick to the main male character. The only non-White major character is the villain, whose motivations are selfish.

Violence & Scariness

Character cauterizes a stomach gash with a car cigarette lighter. Guns and shooting; characters shot. Person injured by shard from wreckage. Russian roulette. Alien weapons. Fighting with sword; fingertips sliced off. Arrows shot through character's hands. Villain tortures a person, pouring thick honey down his throat. Many car chases, crashes, explosions. Fighting, punching. Bloody face. Operation; brain shown. Body sliced open.

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Sex, Romance & Nudity

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A use of "f--k." Also "s--t," "son of a bitch," "bastard," "goddamn," "ass," "d--khead," "damn," and "hell," plus exclamatory use of "Jesus."

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Products & Purchases

Drinking, drugs & smoking.

Main character takes prescription meds, obtained from what appears to be an illegal drug dealer.

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Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Infinite is a sci-fi/action movie starring Mark Wahlberg as a man who learns that he's been reincarnated many times -- and who holds the key to saving the world. Based on D. Eric Maikranz' book The Reincarnationist Papers , the movie mostly feels like an excuse for endless chases and explosions. Other violence includes guns and shooting, fighting and punching, swordfighting (with severed fingers), a person injured by flying debris, some blood, arrows shot through someone's hand, torture (including pouring honey down a person's throat), and someone cauterizing a wound with a cigarette lighter. Language includes "s--t," "bitch," "ass," etc., plus one use of "f--k." The main character takes prescription meds obtained from a shady (illegal) drug dealer, and there's some mild sex-related dialogue. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Parents say (7)
Kids say (4)

Based on 7 parent reviews

It could be better

What's the story.

In INFINITE, Evan Michaels ( Mark Wahlberg ), who's been diagnosed with schizophrenia, has trouble finding a job. He gets the medications he needs by making beautiful swords and trading them to shady drug dealers. During one trade, something goes wrong, and Evan finds himself in custody, questioned by the mysterious Theodore Murray ( Chiwetel Ejiofor ). Tammy McCauley ( Sophie Cookson ) rescues Evan and reveals to him that he's not schizophrenic but is, in fact, an "infinite": a rare being that can remember past lives and retain the skills learned in them. Murray is also an infinite, but one who intends to destroy the entire human race to end his own reincarnation cycle. Evan holds a secret that could either doom humanity or save it -- but first he must remember who he is.

Is It Any Good?

Stuck with an incomprehensible, half-baked idea and carried out with stale writing, mechanical acting, and relentless chase scenes and explosions, this sci-fi action movie is an almost total failure. Directed by Antoine Fuqua , Infinite opens with expository narration about how some infinites (the "Believers") want to use their gifts for good, while others (the "Nihilists") want to destroy everything. About 20 minutes later, a character repeats this information, almost verbatim. But despite all that, the movie doesn't show how reincarnation works -- a character who seemingly died not long ago somehow becomes a 50-year-old Mark Wahlberg -- and only vaguely manages to explain why the villain wants to kill everyone.

If it's nearly impossible to figure out the point of it all, then it follows that the actors have no choice but to read their poorly written lines like robots and that Fuqua must fill the running time with as many meaningless stunts and car crashes as possible. Sometimes those things can be fun, but only if the movie itself has a sense of fun -- or a sense of its own dim-wittedness -- and Infinite has neither of those things. It plays as if everyone involved is just trying to get through it with as little effort as possible. The technical work (e.g., visual effects, sound, etc.) is all fine, but this dud suggests that Fuqua ought to stick to working with Denzel Washington ( Training Day , The Equalizer 1 and 2 , The Magnificent Seven , etc.).

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about Infinite 's violence . How did it make you feel? Was it exciting? Shocking? What did the movie show or not show to achieve this effect?

If you were an "infinite," would you be a "Believer" or a "Nihilist"? What's the difference?

If you were an infinite, what skills would you like to perfect? How would you help humankind?

How are characters of color represented in the film? Did you notice any stereotypes ?

How are women represented? Are they strong? Are they shown only in relation to men, or do they have agency?

Movie Details

On DVD or streaming : June 10, 2021
Cast : Mark Wahlberg , Chiwetel Ejiofor , Sophie Cookson
Director : Antoine Fuqua
Inclusion Information : Black directors, Black actors, Female actors
Studio : Paramount+
Genre : Science Fiction
Topics : Book Characters
Run time : 106 minutes
MPAA rating : PG-13
MPAA explanation : sequences of strong violence, some bloody images, strong language and brief drug use
Last updated : November 14, 2023

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Den of Geek

Infinite Review: Mark Wahlberg Movie Never Ends

Paramount + release Infinite has a fitting title for a movie which seems to drag on for hours.

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Chiwetel Ejiofor and Mark Wahlberg in Infinite

Antoine Fuqua ’s Infinite is one of those movies where the hero suddenly gets rescued in a daring raid after an ally crashes a vehicle through the wall of wherever the hero is being held. One has to wonder: how did the person driving the vehicle know that their friend/colleague/lover/boss wasn’t directly on the other side of the wall and turned into paste when they smashed through it?

Normally we might let something like that go if the rest of the movie entertains or makes up for it, but Infinite doesn’t do either. In addition to that cliché rescue maneuver (which is followed by a destructive and pointless car chase through the inside of a police station), the film contains a string of laughably implausible and uninspired action sequences while borrowing freely and liberally from films like The Old Guard , The Matrix , Nobody , Avengers: Infinity War , and any of the X-Men entries.

Mark Wahlberg and his eternally furrowed brow star as Evan McCauley, a down-on-his-luck everyman who can’t get a job because of his past history of apparent mental illness and psychotic breaks. After McCauley is arrested following an incident with some gangbangers, he’s interrogated at that doomed police station by a man named Bathurst (Chiwetel Ejiofor), who threatens to kill McCauley unless he remembers his true identity.

McCauley is rescued by a woman named Nora Brightman (Sophie Cookson from the Kingsman movies ), who informs him that he, she, Bathurst, and others are among the less than 500 human beings on Earth known as Infinites, who can all remember every detail of every past life they’ve lived, including the skills they acquired each time at bat. That’s why McCauley can effortlessly craft a samurai sword last made in Edo era Japan: he remembers when he did it the first time back then.

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The Infinites, of course, are split into two camps: the Believers, who treat their ability as a gift with which to better humankind, and the Nihilists, who see it as a curse. The latter are led by Bathurst, who wants to eradicate all life on Earth essentially because all his accumulated memories give him a headache and he doesn’t want to keep getting reincarnated. He used to be close friends with McCauley, whose real name is Heinrich Treadway and who was a sort of super-Infinite when he looked like Dylan O’Brien ( The Maze Runner ) in a previous life.

Scripted by Ian Shorr and based on a 2009 novel called The Reincarnationist Papers by D. Eric Maikranz, Infinite is set in a vaguely futuristic version of now: there’s lots of high-tech gadgetry, a secret hideout called the Hub, and even a kooky mad genius named the Artisan (played by Jason Mantzoukas), who shows up for comic relief in the usual spot reserved for these types near the end of the second act. He fails at his mission, however, since this movie takes itself too damn seriously. There’s also something called the Egg, which should be renamed the Egg McGuffin, since it’s the device that Bathurst is determined to acquire so he can dust the human race like a certain purple Titan we know.

Fuqua has proven himself a capable director when he’s handed good material, as in movies like Training Day or the flawed yet decent The Equalizer , and assisted by strong performers like Denzel Washington. But sci-fi is not his wheelhouse; the ideas here have been done to death many times before and the action plunges into the realm of the ridiculous—such as one scene in which Wahlberg leaps mid-air from a motorcycle off a cliff and onto the wing of an airplane—without, say, the winking self-awareness of the Fast and Furious movies. Everything here is portentous, heavy-handed, and listless, with the movie literally dragging itself through its bloated 106 minutes.

Wahlberg doesn’t do his director any favors either, giving a monotone performance that makes us wonder how and why the apparently brilliant and near superhuman Treadway is the film’s Chosen One. The normally elegant Ejiofor, meanwhile, plays to the cheap seats in a manic, histrionic workout that occasionally channels Paul Giamatti at his worst (think The Amazing Spider-Man 2 ). And Cookson leaves no impression at all while Mantzoukas mugs through whatever other film is running in his head.

The globetrotting production (it was shot in London, Mexico City, Cardiff, Nepal and other locations) looks expensive and was once slated for the big screen back in 2020 before the pandemic arrived. But Paramount Pictures decided to move it this year to the recently rebranded Paramount+ streaming service where this generic, derivative nonsense will probably fit better anyway. It already plays more like something the Netflix algorithm burped up on an off-cycle.

Infinite begins streaming on Paramount+ today, June 10.

Don Kaye | @donkaye

Don Kaye is an entertainment journalist by trade and geek by natural design. Born in New York City, currently ensconced in Los Angeles, his earliest childhood memory is…

‘Infinite’ Misses the Mark (Walhberg) — No Jest

By K. Austin Collins

K. Austin Collins

Whatever broad horizons are implied in the title of Infinite — the new Mark Wahlberg movie, adapted from D. Eric Maikranz’s novel The Reincarnationist Papers (2009) — the actual movie is a severely limited, undercooked affair. Its the story harkens to a familiar strain of superhuman origin tale: a man learns, out of the blue, that the odd dreams that have plagued him since he was a child — visions so overwhelming he’d be diagnosed with schizophrenia at a young age — are indicators, not of illness, but of a powerful inner strength. And yadda yadda: there are others of his ilk, some good (the Believers), others not (the Nihilists), with the latter propelled into villainy by a stern belief that being unable to die, and instead hopping from one mortal coil to the next in perpetuity, is bad, actually.

If not for the fact that the Nihilists’ solution to this problem involves exterminating all those mortal coils — just, ending it all, for everyone, forever — they’d have a solid point. Just look at Evan McCauley (Wahlberg), doomed to a life of precarity: picked and prodded at for years and accordingly drug-dependent, haunted by dreams ( if that’s what they really are ), unemployable despite being annoyingly smart, and so on. It’s no spoiler to say that, one day, that all changes. McCauley meets the right people at the right time, who set him on the right path, and suddenly, he’s the most important guy in the universe.

A fair enough setup, more than enough for director Antoine Fuqua to have a little fun. But Infinite — from the goofy miscalculations of its script, to its lightning-leaps over every question or nook of the story that risks make the world of this movie interesting — flattens a high-stakes battle of good and evil into airless action of little consequence peopled by characters that amount to even less, with so much info-dumping crowding the script that the dialogue starts to sound like the desperate gurglings of a clogged toilet after awhile. Even the intervention of Chiwotel Ejiofor, as villain Ted Murray, doesn’t quite help. Ejiofor — so often the nobly stoic hero, often made to appear more boring than he is, by a long shot — clearly wants to have fun, do the villain thing, exterminate the planet, and so on. Yet this talented actor shows up fit to chew scenes made of rubber; he can’t get a bite in; it’s all histrionic gnawing, snarls, confusion.

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There are some questions of interest at the heart of Infinite . The idea, for example, that the Infinites are beings for whom bodies are mere hosts, disposable and forgettable, hardly a throughway into “who” they are, because who they are is a sum of everyone they’ve ever been — every skill they’ve learned, every beef they’ve earned. The eternal fight lingering beyond the margins of what the movie depicts is more interesting than the movie itself — and all the more so for the how , for the reason these Infinites even exist, wisely remaining a question mark. That part turns out not to be so crucial. What’s crucial is the fight to beat the Nihilists’ ass. A better movie would have played a finer hand at the requisite ass-beating.

But when someone gets stabbed in the chest — who cares? When Wahlberg is gripping the back of a plane with a sword of his own making — in a past life, he was a master craftsman — even the pleasurable echoes of Tom Cruise straddling a bullet train wear off as quickly as it takes the seeming reference to land. Infinite shuffles its hero from plot point to plot point, from character to character (and there are many, including turns from Sophie Cookson, Jason Mantzoukas, Rupert Friend, Liz Carr, Dylan O’Brien), going through the motions of self-discovery, memory-recovery, and on and on. And what get left on the cutting room floor are all the true curiosities. Those Infinites trapped in USB drive limbo, for example. The finer details of those legacies-long relationships to which the film keeps gesturing, too. The juicier details of Evan’s past lives, which are ironic, in part, for being populated by true warriors, largely reduced to flits of gold-tinged memory of more talented people fighting the good fight.

Maybe the most notable thing about the movie is Wahlberg himself, who hypes up that hapless “Who, me? Aw, shucks ” vibe that works so well for him in comedies but utterly fails him here. What’s with this Evan guy, anyway? It’s as if the soul of his true warrior self managed to land in the bodies of actual heroes, people with skills to pass on to their next iteration, only to land in the body of a guy who doesn’t seem to have much to offer — anyone. That’s kind of funny, actually. And in that context, Wahlberg’s performance works. But that’s not quite this movie; Infinite , as brought to screen by Fuqua & Co., lacks the self-awareness to it’d take to even know it should be more self-aware. The movie wraps up with something like a speech from a coach: Wahlberg, in the voiceover that basically dooms the movie from its very opening scene, laying it all out for us, spinning this meager heroic tale into a limp bit of hero myth. “Death isn’t the end,” he says. Maybe not. But even the Infinites cannot survive the end of a movie. Thank God for movies.

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‘Infinite’ Film Review: Mark Wahlberg Action-Thriller Overspends and Underwhelms

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If you’ve ever wished that video games could look more like real life — or that real life could look more like video games — Antoine Fuqua is here to fulfill your fantasies.

Many of the actors in the Paramount+ release “Infinite” might as well be avatars; you can picture the green screens as you’re watching the complicated set pieces, and there is no emotional investment required or even requested. But it delivers what it promises, in the form of expensive spectacle.

Chris Evans dropped out of this project in 2019 — he cited scheduling issues, which feels like a polite excuse — but the truth is that Mark Wahlberg is a far better fit. Evans might have brought too much integrity to a movie that asks for none, while Wahlberg contributes just the right amount of casual saunter.

Wahlberg’s Evan McCauley introduces and ends the movie with a voiceover narration that suggests a quick, last-minute fix for confused test audiences. It doesn’t help much, but the gist is that there’s a secret group of people who get reincarnated in perpetuity. They call themselves Infinites, and they battle the Nihilists.

The alienated, unhappy Evan believes himself to be schizophrenic, due to a lifetime of troubling visions. He’s also confused by his own, seemingly endless store of random knowledge. He’s a master blacksmith, for example. Also, he knows the capitol of Burkina Faso, details of the second Punic War, and the makeup of gunpowder, all of which really impresses people. But it’s not until he meets Nora (Sophie Cookson, “Kingsman: The Secret Service”) that he puts these clues together.

He is, of course, an Infinite himself — indeed, The Infinite, who has the power to save the planet through his buried memories. It seems he was once a guy named Treadway, who was not only a far cry from the down-and-out Evan but the kind of mountain-climbing hero who lived in a glass-walled penthouse with a motorcycle permanently parked in the living room.

He was also friends with Bathurst (Chiwetel Ejiofor), who left the Infinites to become a Nihilist because he was sick of eternal life. In his bitterness Bathurst created a device (rather underwhelmingly named “the Egg”) designed to end all life. Treadway was the last person who had the Egg, so if Evan can access his own memories, the Infinites might be able to find and destroy it.

Anyway, this is already far more time than needs to be spent on the plot. The script was written by Ian Shorr (“Splinter”), based on D. Eric Maikranz’ novel “The Reincarnationist Papers,” but the basic structure of the movie goes something like this:

“Inception”-inspired ExpositionCar-motorcycle-plane chasesPreposterously expensive explosionsShootouts–knife fights–face punching“Matrix”-style editingCloseup of Wahlberg’s biceps

Lather, rinse, repeat, until the movie eventually ends.

Obviously, there are plenty of sci-fi–action fans who would be thrilled by a film exactly as described above. Fair enough. The plane chase is particularly well-choreographed, and who doesn’t like watching pretty people drive sports cars backwards at top speed while simultaneously shooting down helicopters? Fuqua (“The Equalizer”) goes all in on the excessively expansive budget, but his emotional artistry is definitely missed.

This feels like a paycheck job all around, and Bathurst speaks for everyone when he proclaims that “Newer is almost never better.” Cinematographer Mauro Fiore, editor Conrad Buff, and visual effects supervisor Pete Bebb — all accomplished mega-movie veterans — seem to have prepared for their jobs by revisiting Christopher Nolan movies, “Mission Impossible” sequels, and the entire “Fast & Furious” franchise.

Cookson approaches her performance as a series of poses, and it was an odd choice to tell us at the start that her character’s soul mate is not only not Wahlberg, but some guy we never see again. A totally wasted Toby Jones appears to have shown up for a single afternoon, which is a shame. But Wahlberg and Ejiofor muster enough charisma to keep us watching, and Jason Mantzoukas cuts through the generic feel with some much-appreciated weirdness as the Artisan, a guy who…dissects brains? Builds cool experiments? Tries to kill but also save people?

There are a lot of questions like these, though none more than when Wahlberg’s narration sums the whole thing up by declaring that “The possibilities are [dramatic pause] Infinite .” The possibilities of life? Studio budgets? His salary? Honestly, some movies are better experienced and forgotten than analyzed and understood.

“Infinite” premieres June 10 on Paramount+.

Read original story ‘Infinite’ Film Review: Mark Wahlberg Action-Thriller Overspends and Underwhelms At TheWrap

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Infinite review: Mark Wahlberg’s sci-fi adventure is a waste of good lives

There’s plenty of pedigree behind Infinite , the sci-fi thriller from Training Day director Antoine Fuqua that casts two-time Oscar nominee Mark Wahlberg as a diagnosed schizophrenic who discovers that his hallucinations are actually the memories and accumulated experiences of past lives.

Chaos over character

Wasted potential, is it over yet.

The film pits Wahlberg’s character against a similarly reincarnating — but fully aware — villain played by Oscar-nominated 12 Years A Slave star Chiwetel Ejiofor, and was produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura, who famously shepherded both The Matrix and Transformers franchises to the screen. The movie’s concept is also pretty slick, with two factions of characters who wield a wide array of abilities, expertise, and wealth gained from their past lives battling it out across the globe — one trying to protect humanity while the other tries to end their infinite reincarnation by wiping out all life on Earth.

Early reports on screenwriter Ian Shorr’s script, adapted from D. Eric Maikranz’s 2009 novel The Reincarnationist Papers , described the film’s vibe as “Wanted meets The Matrix .” Collectively, all of those elements set a fairly high bar for Infinite , so it’s unfortunate that all of those impressive qualities are wasted on a thoroughly disappointing film.

Right from its opening scene, which features a wildly destructive high-speed car chase that would’ve felt right at home in a Fast and Furious sequel or one of the aforementioned Transformers movies, Infinite seems intent on dispensing with any of the more cerebral aspects of its characters’ lore and going all-in on physics-defying, maximum carnage spectacle. We’re given a glimpse of the most recent final moments of the main characters, essentially superhero secret agents capable of pulling off unbelievable feats with cars, guns, and inexplicably (at that point) a samurai sword while being pursued by legions of faceless villains and disposable law enforcement.

It’s the sort of scene that plays perfectly fine in countless big-budget action and sci-fi franchises, but Infinite falls back on it over and over throughout its 106-minute running time, often at the expense of any character development or narrative work that would make the stakes in the frantic sequences feel consequential. Scenes like this work in franchises like The Fast and the Furious and Transformers because you care (at least a little bit) what happens to the characters. Infinite , however, never bothers to try making its characters interesting, let alone relatable.

Shortly after we’re introduced to Wahlberg’s character and his uncertain psychological state, the film puts him at the center of yet another ridiculously chaotic car chase — this time featuring two armored vehicles plowing through a crowded metropolis intended to be Manhattan — and from that point on, the action sequences blur together in a near-constant frenzy of explosions and destruction for the remainder of the film. Neither Wahlberg’s character nor his supporting cast of “Infinites” (the name given to the film’s reincarnating characters) are given any development beyond what’s necessary to put them in place for the next death-defying set piece, making the film feel less like an unfolding story and more like a movie mayhem sizzle reel.

Although the film puts carnage over character development at nearly every opportunity, Infinite does manage to hint at what it could have been just enough to make you frustrated with the film it ended up being.

A scene in which Ejiofor’s character tortures another “Infinite” played by Emmy-nominated veteran actor Toby Jones is one of the film’s most fun to watch, and amazingly, it doesn’t even involve a single explosion. Both actors chew up the scenery as they engage in a bit of over-the-top verbal sparring, and the short scene ends up delivering more entertainment value than much of the 100 minutes of footage surrounding it.

Comedic actor Jason Mantzoukas ( The League , The Dictator ) also does an admirable job of adding some levity to the film’s cast, but his otherwise fun performance is ultimately overshadowed by the movie’s desire for a constant stream of high-speed pursuits, gun battles, and other effects-driven action sequences.

Given the bona fides of the film’s cast and creative team, it seemed reasonable to expect an entertaining adventure from Infinite — and at worst, dumb fun — but the final product underwhelms at even the low end of expectations.

With a story more meager and patched together than any of di Bonaventura or Wahlberg’s Transformers films, and lacking any of the dramatic weight of Fuqua or Ejiofor’s prior projects, Infinite is a disappointment across the board — and makes a strong case for being one of its cast members’ and director’s worst films. That it’s filled with characters who pride themselves on using their vast archive of memories (while offering few examples of doing so in the film) makes it even more annoying that the film ends up being so forgettable.

Sure, Ejiofor’s villainous character is intended to be evil for wanting to bring an early end to Infinite ‘s tale of death and rebirth, but after sitting through nearly two hours of unoriginal action scenes in Infinite without any semblance a story to stitch them together, he might have been on to something.

Antoine Fuqua and Mark Wahlberg’s Infinite is available now on the Paramount+ streaming service.

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Although AI and movies about it feel more relevant than ever, this is hardly the first time that AI has been featured prominently in this kind of story. Long before we had the kind of real-world AI that we see today, we had movies that tackled the question head-on. We've selected three movies that expertly tackle the subject. The Creator (2023) The Creator | Official Trailer

There are few things more beautiful than when a movie manages to genuinely shock you. If you're a movie buff, it's likely that you're on the lookout for potential twists or reveals that could totally upend you're understanding of what you're watching. Even the most experienced movie watchers still get surprised sometimes, though, and that's especially common in great science fiction movies.

Because sci-fi movies often have to build their own worlds that have totally distinct rules, it's possible for us to watch something without fully understanding what we're seeing until the film's final moments. That's where the shocking ending comes in, and we've selected five of the very best for this list.

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‘Infinite’ Movie Review: Mark Wahlberg Reincarnates Better Movies In Lackluster Form

Infinite truly looks like a movie phoning it in. It’s got an ensemble cast of very attractive people led by marquee hero Mark Wahlberg , with Oscar nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor as the villain. It has what appear to be expensive action sequences. It’s got a catchy premise that immediately seems less so the moment any character starts talking about it. Yet the sum of all these parts don’t feel like a movie so much as a highlight reel for content.

Infinite: Mark Wahlberg meets the infinites in The Hub

Is the movie ‘Infinite’ based on a true story?

Infinite is based on the book The Reincarnationist Papers by D. Eric Maikranz. The film opens with narration explaining Infinites can remember past lives, but have split into two opposing factions. That’s already a lot, and Evan McCauley (Wahlberg) continues to narrate explaining that his medication is running out. What’s wild is how unnecessary it all is. They had a scene where Evan confronts his black market dealer but they still didn’t trust the audience to get it.

Mark Wahlberg and Sophie Cookson discuss past lives in an airplane hangar

In jail after the dealer confrontation, Evan meets Bathurst (Ejiofor) who tries to remind him who he was. They’re interrupted by Nora Brightman (Sophie Cookson) who rescues Evan and takes him to the Hub, where other Infinites hide out and plan stuff. In Evan’s past life, he stole a device from Bathurst that would wipe out every living thing so nobody can ever be reincarnated. You’d think that solves everything, but Bathurst believes Evan can remake the device for him so he’s still coming for them.

‘Infinite’ makes two problematic claims

Whether you believe in reincarnation or not, it can be a perfectly fun device for an action movie, a sort of spiritual Total Recall . However, Infinite has two wildly inappropriate themes that should have been flagged during development.

One is that Evan has been diagnosed as schizophrenic, doctors presuming his memories are mental illness. Saying that schizophrenia is just midiagnosed past life recall is not great. Evan even attends a job interview where the potential employer brings up his history of violence and mental illness. Never mind they wouldn’t bother to schedule a meeting with someone they don’t intend to hire, but that interview was for the sake of exposition.

Mark Wahlberg forges a samurai sword in Infinite

At least Evan can forge samurai swords to sell for his medication, which brings us to the second problem. A Japanese blacksmith was reincarnated as a White guy. In theory, belief in reincarnation has no racial, gender or even species boundaries. But, when you commit it to film, the filmmakers are choosing to replace an Asian character, however relegated to backstory, with a White one.

A lot to look at but nothing to feel

Infinite opens on a char chase that never feels like a real car on a road. It may have been one, but they added so many digital effects to it that none of it feels practical. Nora drives through a police station and all the prison cells. It’s fast, but not very furious.

Infinite: A car drives through the police station

The Hub trains Evan to remember his fighting skills. There’s a montage of Evan training, and they keep flashing back to a fight on a crane. The actors on the crane are obviously on a green screen mimicking moves that the filmmakers composite together later. John Wick does some of that for its more elaborate sequences, but those movies manage to simulate real contact.

The climax has an elaborate chase through the forest. Nora and Evan use skills they presumably accumulated from past lives, but they just seem random and unmotivated. We know Evan can fight because of the montage, but other characters have bags of tricks they use at random like Batman’s shark repellant.

Infinite: A motorcycle jumps onto a plane

‘In the Heights’ Movie Review: Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Neighborhood

A lot of scenes that explosion-cam where the radius around the blast gets slow motion and blurry. That numbs the impact of any pyrotechnics. Some of the set pieces are quite similar to ones in F9 but far less effective. Let that be a lesson to critics, don’t take the Fast and the Furious movies for granted. Not everyone can pull that off.

Singer Christina Milian wears a navy tuxedo dress at Place Vendome in Paris

Christina Milian Is on ‘Cloud 9’ in Paris, Wearing a Stunning White Mini Dress

Princess Charlotte and Prince George react during the Platinum Party at Buckingham Palace

When Prince George Showed the World That He’s a Good Big Brother Checking in on Princess Charlotte

Justin Timberlake resting his head in his hand while wearing a hoodie over his hood. Jessica Biel is next to him in sunglasses and a scarf. The couple is at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in 2019.

Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel Prove They’re Not Headed for ‘Divorce Bombshell’ Post-DWI Incident

Infinite (2021) Movie Review – A lacklustre thriller that thankfully doesn’t go on forever

Infinitely Flawed

Antoine Fuqua’s Infinite is yet another film that details the lives of people who seemingly have the capacity to live forever. We have already seen its like on Netflix, with the reasonably entertaining The Old Guard, as well as the 1986 ‘classic,’ Highlander that, despite the promise that there ‘can be only one,’ spawned a never-ending franchise with diminishing returns.

Infinite is a little different. Mark Wahlberg’s Evan McCauley isn’t immortal. But it’s the fact that Wahlberg can remember all of his past lives that gives him the ability to be super-infinite. As he can remember all of the skills he has picked up over the course of his reincarnated existence, he can wield a samurai sword, practice hand-to-hand combat, and do other things that befit the people he has existed as before. It’s an intriguing concept but sadly, this isn’t a film that will live forever in your mind.

As the director of The Equalizer and Training Day , Fuqua certainly has what it takes to craft an interesting thriller. He is no slouch in the action stakes either, as he proved with Shooter , which also starred Mark Wahlberg. However, this film won’t go down in history as one of his best.

Based on the novel The Reincarnationist Papers , this futuristic tale tells the story of two factions, the Infinites and the Believers, each one battling over the future of the human race. Wahlberg falls into the former camp as a man who slowly wakes up to the fact that he has existed before. And Chiwetel Ejiofor heads up the opposing side, as somebody who sees the gift of eternal life as less of a blessing and more of a curse that blights his every reality.

The concept is certainly interesting but it’s never fully realised. Despite some reasonably good action scenes, especially near the beginning of the film, it never quite raises the pulse. This is because the characters within are quite thinly drawn so we are never fully invested in them.

Yes, there is a high stakes scenario at the heart of the film – The Believers want to use something called the Egg to destroy the world, while the Infinites battle to stop them – but as the convoluted story borders on ridiculousness at times, it’s hard to take seriously. In fact, there were moments when I stopped caring about the film entirely. After a promising early start, events take a turn for the worst as exposition piles upon exposition and the story threads become ever more nonsensical.

Sadly, the acting doesn’t help. This isn’t to say the film doesn’t contain actors of merit. Mark Wahlberg, Sophie Cookson (as the woman who wakes Eric up to his infinite existence), and Chiwetel Ejiofor, are all people capable of turning in good performances. The wonderful Toby Jones turns up here too. However, these talented actors aren’t given a lot to work with, as their characters are all fairly one-dimensional. The fact that they have to rely on dialogue that doesn’t always make a lot of sense isn’t helpful either.

Thankfully, this isn’t a film that feels like it’s going to go on forever. At 106 minutes, it’s not a short film but it’s far shorter than many recent action films, such as Fast and Furious 9 , which went on for a bum-numbing 135 minutes. The action, including one scene where Wahlberg, after riding off a cliff, leaps mid-air from a motorcycle and onto the wing of an aeroplane, is adeptly handled. It’s just a shame that the story is a bit of a mess, being derivative of other, better films that one is reminded of while watching.

Is it worth a watch? Well, if you’re prepared to turn your brain off for what is essentially a generic piece of escapism, then yes, it might be. In one sense, it’s perfect Friday night viewing if all you want to do is wind down and forget about work and your assorted other life pressures. But if you’re a more discerning viewer, perhaps on the lookout for a sci-fi film that has story depth as well as good action, you are going to be disappointed.

This is more Gemini Man than Tenet , with little to offer other than some fairly well-orchestrated action scenes. It’s easy to see why it slipped onto streaming services (Amazon Prime in the UK, Paramount+ in the States), as a cinema release would surely have garnered it more negative word of mouth than it is currently getting.

I have the feeling that this was intended to be the first of a franchise. Whether or not another film appears, we will have to wait and see. Personally, I doubt it, unless it can be reincarnated into something that offers far more than the slapdash sci-fi mumbo jumbo that we get here.

Feel free to check out more of our movie reviews here!

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Cast & crew

Sonic the Hedgehog 3

James Marsden, Tom Butler, Colleen O'Shaughnessey, Tony McCarthy, Andy M Milligan, LeChristopher Williams, Nathan Hall, Amedeo Fedeli, James Wright, Jorma Taccone, Tika Sumpter, James Wolk, Ben Schwartz, Sofia Pernas, Lee Majdoub, Dempsey Gibson, Stuart Whelan, Alfredo Tavares, and Joshmaine Joseph in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024)

Plot under wraps Plot under wraps Plot under wraps

Jeff Fowler
Josh Miller
John Whittington
Ben Schwartz
Colleen O'Shaughnessey

Jim Carrey, Keanu Reeves, Luke Freeborn, Tom Butler, Tom Holkenborg, Neal H. Moritz, Colleen O'Shaughnessey, Toru Nakahara, Brandon Trost, Tony McCarthy, Josh Miller, Pat Casey, Andy M Milligan, LeChristopher Williams, Amedeo Fedeli, James Wright, Jorma Taccone, Jeff Fowler, Tika Sumpter, Hitoshi Okuno, James Wolk, Ben Schwartz, Al LeVine, Sofia Pernas, Lee Majdoub, Toby Ascher, John Whittington, Dempsey Gibson, Stuart Whelan, Alfredo Tavares, Cristo Fernández, and Joshmaine Joseph in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024)

Maddie Wachowski

Commander Walters

Tom Wachowski

Dr. Robotnik

Agent Stone

Captain Rockwell

Party Guest

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Trivia The film makers of the prior movies have mentioned playing both "Sonic Adventure 2" and the "Shadow The Hedgehog" solo game for inspiration. The film is also inspired by narrative elements from the Saturday morning animated television series "Sonic the Hedgehog" (1993 - 1994).
Connections Follows Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)
When will Sonic the Hedgehog 3 be released? Powered by Alexa
December 20, 2024 (United States)
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The Newest Movie Reviews to Get You Through This Stacked Weekend

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It’s now the end of what has been quite a long week and you know what that means: lots of new movies to watch. We’ve not only covered them all, but we’ve assembled our reviews of each for you to read. Whether you want to learn about the new big release in theaters starring Russell Crowe or dive into the new sci-fi movie starring Léa Seydoux on VOD, we’ve got you covered.

In Theaters

'fancy dance' (2024), directed by erica tremblay.

Isabel Deroy-Olsen and Lily Gladstone, crossing their arms, as Roki and Jax in Fancy Dance Apple TV+

Kicking things off is Erica Tremblay ’s fantastic Fancy Dance , the latest film to star the great Lily Gladstone after she blew us all away with her incredible work in Killers of the Flower Moon from last year. Her latest is a modern classic in the making, seeing her play the hustler with a heart of gold Jax as she tries to find her missing sister and look after her young niece. In my rave review back from when it played at Sundance in 2023 , I called it “one of the best of the year” and that absolutely remains true for 2024. Specifically, it’s a film that deserves just as much attention as her past work as Gladstone again proves she is a performer like no other.

Fancy Dance

Fancy Dance boasts not only another magnificent performance from Lily Gladstone, but every other aspect of it becomes a beautiful work of art.

Following her sister's disappearance, a Native American hustler kidnaps her niece from the child's white grandparents and sets out for the state powwow in hopes of keeping what is left of their family intact.

The film takes a familiar story and makes it into something that is bursting with life.
Gladstone is able to do more without saying much at all than most actors could with pages and pages of dialogue.
The conclusion is shattering yet sublime, proving to be one of those moments that can linger forever in our memories.

READ OUR REVIEW

'Janet Planet' (2024)

Directed by: annie baker.

Julianne Nicholson as Janet and Zoe Ziegler as Lacy sitting together while watching a play in a still from Janet Planet.

Keeping up with films that made a buzz in festivals though are now rolling out into theaters, the joyous Janet Planet is also finally able to be seen by the world. Starring Julianne Nicholson in one of her very best performances to date in a career never lacking for them, my review I wrote earlier this year called it “a film of small moments and how they can accumulate into something that feels like it may last a lifetime.” It will change you just as it does its characters.

Janet Planet (2024)

Janet Planet is spectacular feature debut from writer-director Annie Baker with great performances by Zoe Ziegler and Julianne Nicholson that's one of the best films of 2024 so far.

The film finds an understated beauty in its small corner of the world, delicately exploring the relationship between a mother and daughter.
Janet Planet explores life's most pressing questions about how we can become set down certain paths and whether we can find a way free of them.
Julianne Nicholson inhabits this world so naturally, it feels like you're just peeking in on Janet's life.
The film ends with a fitting coda, cementing it as an evocative and essential work.

'Kinds of Kindness' (2024)

Directed by: yorgos lanthimos.

Kinds-of-Kindness-jesse-plemons-emma-stone

Good news for fans of Yorgos Lanthimos as his new movie, Kinds of Kindness , is a return to him being his unrestrained weird self. Starring Jesse Plemons and Emma Stone as well as many others, it’s a film of three different yet interconnected stories where everyone is anything but kind. In my review from when it premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival , I said that it was a “return to form” for the director and “while he was far from dead like the corpses in this film, Kinds of Kindness feels like Lanthimos is himself coming back to life once more.”

Kinds of Kindness (2024)

Kinds of Kindness is a return to form for Yorgos Lanthimos, bring his distinctly dark humor and boasting a standout performance by Jesse Plemons.

After some more straightforward successes, Kinds of Kindness proves that Lanthimos still has plenty of weird films left in the tank.
All of the cast get their moment to excel, but it's Jesse Plemons who proves to be the best of the bunch.
With a strong opener and closer, Lanthimos again dissects our toxic relationships with plenty of flair to spare.
The middle section is a little more confined and the overall film doesn't have the room to build tension like Lanthimos has in the past.

'Thelma' (2024)

Directed by: josh margolin.

thelma-june-squibb-fred-hechinger-sundance copy

Move over Tom Cruise , there is a new action star in town and her name is June Squibb . In writer-director Josh Margolin ’s Thelma , she’s on a mission to get her money back after it is stolen by some no-good scammers. In his review from back at this year’s Sundance , Senior Film Editor Ross Bonaime said that this is “the definition of a light comedy, but Squibb and Margolin’s handling of this pseudo-spy parody makes it a delight.”

Thelma Sundance Film Festival 2024 Sample Image

Thelma (2024)

Thelma, from writer-director Josh Margolin, gives June Squibb her first lead role in an action-comedy that showcases her strengths.

June Squibb is delightful as the title character, trying to get revenge on elderly scammers.
Josh Margolin's script is a smart parody that never insults its older characters.
The supporting cast never quite manages to feel as fleshed out as the characters played by Squibb and Richard Roundtree.

'The Exorcism' (2024)

Directed by: joshua john miller.

A bloody Russell Crowe in a priest's outfit looking up at the camera with determination.

Continuing on we have Crowe taking on yet another movie of demons with The Exorcism , a movie about a movie where he plays a man tasked with playing a priest in a production where he begins to become actually possessed. Does this meta-horror take have the potential to be a new Scream ? Not according to our reviewer and Horror Editor Emma Kiely. She called the film “a dense, dark, and heavy horror drama” that starts out well enough to abandon “everything it's been setting up to give way to formulaic and stale scare sequences.”

The Exorcism (2024)

The Exorcism has an interesting idea at its core but ultimately falls victim to its self-seriousness and empty scares.

The meta quality of its concept makes for some fun jabs at the horror genre.
The Exorcism abandons all the interesting ideas it sets up in the first act to give way to drab scare sequences.
Russell Crowe gives a much less enlightened performance than his last horror venture.

'The Bikeriders' (2024)

Directed by: jeff nichols.

Jodie Comer in a pink cardigan sits on a porch looking serenely into the distance resting her head on hand

Okay, so if the big theatrical horror release of the week left us cold, maybe the historical biker drama The Bikeriders will get our motor running? Unfortunately, while this film has a stacked cast in Jodie Comer , Austin Butler , Mike Faist , Tom Hardy , and more, this again left our Kiely less than compelled . In her review from back at the London Film Festival, she wrote that the film “seems shiny on the surface” though doesn’t deliver on any of its promising elements, falling flat “in its excessive filler, undeveloped characters, and symphony of bonkers accents.”

The Bikeriders

The Bikeriders leans too heavily on its talented ensemble and asks its audience to invest in a half-baked story.

Jodie Comer gives a committed and passionate performance, making her a stand-out in the cast.
The marriage between Kathy and Benny is at the center of the story but their relationship isn't developed enough to feel authentic.
The main characters of The Bikeriders aren't fully formed, making it hard to connect to them.

'Animalia' (2024)

Directed by: sofia alaoui.

Oumaima Barid as Itto looking at the camera while a face fades in behind her in Animalia.

If you consider yourself a fan of recent sci-fi series like Constellation and Invasion or just an appreciator of well-told stories in the genre writ large, you’re going to want to see Animalia . A film that takes a unique take on what seems to be a visit by some forces that are not of this Earth, it centers on a woman who has been disconnected from her family and must make her way back to them as the world is coming apart. In my review from back at Sundance , I praised the film’s “willingness to peer directly through the looking glass that most other science fiction works would blink in the face” as this is where it “taps into something that remains as spectacular as it is elusive."

Animalia is a surreal, striking sci-fi vision that proves writer-director Sofia Alaoui is one to watch.

Oumaïma Barid gives a dynamic performance, grounding the sweeping sci-fi story in the personal.
There are plenty of standout visual sequences that grab hold of you even as they offer no explicit explanation.
As the film peers through the looking glass, it taps into something that remains as spectacular as it is elusive.

'I Saw the TV Glow' (2024)

Directed by: jane schoenbrun.

A worried Justice Smith (left) looks at a stunned Brigette Lundy-Paine (right) in I Saw the TV Glow.

Trust us when we say that I Saw the TV Glow is an A24 horror film that you’ll be talking about all year. The second feature from director Jane Schoenbrun , it’s about a television show called The Pink Opaque that soon becomes a subject of obsession for two young teens. When it’s canceled, they’ll have to figure out what to do with their lives and who each of them are. In his review from Sundance , Bonaime said that it is “a daring step forward for Schoenbrun as a filmmaker and a film that will certainly divide audiences not sure what the hell to make of it.”

I Saw the TV Glow

I Saw the TV Glow is a fascinating sophomore feature by Jane Schoenbrun. It's a weird and beautiful experience that has to be seen to be believed.

Jane Schoenbrun tells an effective story that blends horror, nostalgia, and larger themes of transition.
I Saw the TV Glow has a truly strange cast that somehow works well when put together.
Schoenbrun creates a film that deserves discussion, as it will certainly mean something different to everyone who sees it.

'The Beast' (2024)

Directed by: bertrand bonello.

Léa Seydoux standing in front of flames in The Beast.

Last but definitely not least is The Beast , a film whose title could not be more fitting. A monumental and menacing work of sci-fi, it follows two lovers whose lives are connected across multiple timelines that are all seem to be coming apart before them. In my review from back at the Toronto International Film Festival , I called it one of “the most formidable films you'll be lucky enough to see in a lifetime” whose “final echoes you hear may just continue to ring out.”

The Beast (2024)

The Beast is a monumental and menacing sci-fi film with an astounding performance by Léa Seydoux that you won't soon forget.

Writer-director Bertrand Bonello has made what is his best film yet, making everything come viscerally alive.
Léa Seydoux is brilliant once more, ensuring we feel every moment even as the film itself is quite unwieldy.
The ending providing a spectacular and striking conclusion that is certain to be among the most formidable you see for some time.
Movie Reviews

IMAGES

'Infinite' (2021)
‘Infinite’ Review: Stuck in a Loop
Infinite Movie Review
Movie Review: Infinite, With Mark Wahlberg, Chiwetel Ejiofor
Sci-fi film “Infinite” reveals the ultimate trailer
First Infinite Trailer Shows Mark Wahlberg Living Past Lives

VIDEO

Infinite Movie Review
Transform into an infinite loop to share interesting videos
The infinite loop of horror. short 3/3#film#movie #frighteningbathroom #commentary #movierecap
Infinite (2021) Movie || Mark Wahlberg, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sophie Cookson || Review And Facts
Is it worth it for people to lose their true happiness in the pursuit of high grades?#movie#shorts
The infinite loop of horror. short 3/3#film#movie #commentary #frighteningbathroom #moviefacts

COMMENTS

Infinite movie review & film summary (2021)
Infinite. I'm sure Mark Wahlberg, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Toby Jones signed on to Antoine Fuqua 's globetrotting sci-fi action flick "Infinite" with the best of intentions. On paper, the premise sounds like a killer idea: Reincarnated warriors locked in a centuries old war work to save humanity. On one side lies the good guys, the infinites.
Infinite
Upcoming Movies and TV shows; ... Rated: 1.5/5 Oct 9, 2022 Full Review Zoë Rose Bryant Loud and Clear Reviews Infinite is at times comedically convoluted, but ...
Infinite (2021)
Infinite: Directed by Antoine Fuqua. With Mark Wahlberg, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sophie Cookson, Dylan O'Brien. A man discovers that his hallucinations are actually visions from past lives.
Infinite
Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/5 | Aug 17, 2022. "Infinite" has all the elements you'd find in almost any action film. It just slightly misses the mark by not going all in and fully immersing ...
'Infinite' Review: Stuck in a Loop
But "Infinite" is a movie about superheroes, which means that the stakes have to become, at minimum, planet-size. As it turns out, Evan isn't delusional: He's special. He's one of a ...
'Infinite' Review: Mark Wahlberg's Déjà Vu Reincarnation Thriller
Infinite, Mark Wahlberg. 'Infinite' Review: Mark Wahlberg Reincarnation Thriller Will Leave You With Déjà Vu. Reviewed online, Los Angeles, June 9, 2021. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time ...
Mark Wahlberg in Antoine Fuqua's 'Infinite': Film Review
In the absence of substance or thematic texture, Fuqua capably steers cinematographer Mauro Fiore to keep his dynamic camera in constant motion, and slaps on plenty of Harry Gregson-Williams ...
Movie Review: Infinite, With Mark Wahlberg, Chiwetel Ejiofor
Mostly, though, Infinite feels like a depressing fable about the movie industry. Directed by Antoine Fuqua, the film is based on the novel The Reincarnationist Papers. Author D. Eric Maikranz self ...
Infinite
Infinite is a chaotic film. Plucking from well-worn cliches, it's familiar enough to scratch the itch of action entertainment. ... We recap the just-concluded festival with a list of award winners and review summaries for dozens of films making their world premieres in Cannes, including new titles from David Cronenberg, Yorgos Lanthimos ...
'Infinite' review: Mark Wahlberg stars in silly, junky sci-fi
Review: There are infinitely better things to watch than 'Infinite'. Chiwetel Ejiofor and Mark Wahlberg in the movie "Infinite.". The silly, junky science-fiction thriller "Infinite ...
Infinite (film)
Infinite is a 2021 American science fiction action film directed by Antoine Fuqua, from a screenplay written by Ian Shorr based on a story by Todd Stein (itself adapted from D. Eric Maikranz's 2009 novel The Reincarnationist Papers). The film stars Mark Wahlberg, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sophie Cookson, Jason Mantzoukas, Rupert Friend, Toby Jones and Dylan O'Brien.
Infinite Review: Mark Wahlberg Leads Action-Packed, Surface-Level Sci-Fi
The concept of reincarnation has lent itself to numerous stories over the years and it gets a sci-fi twist with Antoine Fuqua's latest film, Infinite.Once expected to debut in theaters last summer, the Mark Wahlberg-starring movie, which is based on D. Eric Maikranz's The Reincarnationist Papers, arrives on Paramount+ today, making it the streamer's most high-profile cinematic debut so far.
Infinite Review
Infinite Review Mark Wahlberg headlines an action-packed adventure about reincarnated warriors, but gets outshone. ... Infinite is a chaotic film. Plucking from well-worn cliches, it's familiar ...
Infinite
The movie seeks to be a diversion for a large audience, but the violence, language and its chosen story centerpiece—reincarnation—certainly limit the movie's reach. While many films released during the still-lingering age of COVID deserved a bigger audience, Infinite feels like it's found a fitting niche: To be seen by a few, unseen by ...
Infinite Movie Review
Our review: Parents say ( 7 ): Kids say ( 4 ): Stuck with an incomprehensible, half-baked idea and carried out with stale writing, mechanical acting, and relentless chase scenes and explosions, this sci-fi action movie is an almost total failure. Directed by Antoine Fuqua, Infinite opens with expository narration about how some infinites (the ...
Infinite Review: Mark Wahlberg Movie Never Ends
Scripted by Ian Shorr and based on a 2009 novel called The Reincarnationist Papers by D. Eric Maikranz, Infinite is set in a vaguely futuristic version of now: there's lots of high-tech gadgetry ...
'Infinite' Movie Review
Whatever broad horizons are implied in the title of Infinite — the new Mark Wahlberg movie, adapted from D. Eric Maikranz's novel The Reincarnationist Papers (2009) — the actual movie is a ...
'Infinite' Film Review: Mark Wahlberg Action-Thriller ...
Wahlberg's Evan McCauley introduces and ends the movie with a voiceover narration that suggests a quick, last-minute fix for confused test audiences. It doesn't help much, but the gist is that ...
Infinite (2021)
Infinite is a brash breezy action movie directed by Antoine Fuqua who tries to hide its serious shortcomings. There are a breed of people who are constantly reincarnated who can access memories and skills of their past lives. On one side are the Infinites who believe that they work for the good of humanity in general.
Infinite
A review of the 2021 film Infinite. Released: 2021 Run time: 106 Mins.Director: Antoine Fuqua Rated: PG13 Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Sophie Cookson, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Dylan O'Brien I would first like to say: I wish we had seen more Dylan O'Brien.
Infinite Review: A Waste of Good Lives and Talented Actors
Infinite review: Mark Wahlberg's sci-fi adventure is a waste of good lives By Rick Marshall June 10, 2021 There's ... Sci-fi movies come in all shapes in sizes, from ones that feature monsters ...
'Infinite' Movie Review: Mark Wahlberg Reincarnates Better Movies In
Infinite truly looks like a movie phoning it in. It's got an ensemble cast of very attractive people led by marquee hero Mark Wahlberg, with Oscar nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor as the villain. It has ...
Infinite (2021) Movie Review
Infinitely Flawed. Antoine Fuqua's Infinite is yet another film that details the lives of people who seemingly have the capacity to live forever. We have already seen its like on Netflix, with the reasonably entertaining The Old Guard, as well as the 1986 'classic,' Highlander that, despite the promise that there 'can be only one,' spawned a never-ending franchise with diminishing ...
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024)
Sonic the Hedgehog 3: Directed by Jeff Fowler. With Ben Schwartz, Colleen O'Shaughnessey, Idris Elba, Keanu Reeves. Plot under wraps
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