Infini (2015): Movie Review

The universe and the space beyond are something not fully explored in the present time. However, the cinema geniuses have their own visions of the future and we have seen tons of them – from alien planets to an Earth overridden with foreign life and to space travels faster than light. In Infini, Australian director Shane Abbess provided his own interpretation where people can easily jump from Earth to another planet. 

The film starts with a preamble of 23^rd century Earth. Humans are now practicing “slipstreaming” or simply teleporting which enables them to visit other colony planets to engage in high-risk employment like mining. But slipstreaming comes with an unpredictable danger – data corruption or human particles being contaminated with something else. So on a fateful day, Whit Carmichael (Daniel MacPherson) signs in for a job at the distant colony called Infini. However, a massive biological outbreak ensues in Infini, killing approximately 1,600 people, with only Carmichael surviving the catastrophe. 

Back at the headquarters, a diverse culture team is organized to execute two missions in Infini – destroy a payload set to be delivered to Earth, and search and rescue Carmichael. But the team is bound for a greater surprise. After arriving in Infini and finding Carmichael, they learn that some sort of parasite has infected the people, turning them into lunatic and berserk killers. As they come unprepared, the team become infected one by one. 

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Infini is reminiscent of many science fiction horror films set in space. Particularly, it feels like a crossbreed between Danny Boyle’s “Sunshine” (2007) and the Alien film franchise, employing the former’s subtlety and sluggish pacing and the former’s cut-throat heart-pumping fight sequences. The movie’s opening sets off over-the-top tension as a group of space marines are yelling at each other for reasons beguiling to us. After flashing the film’s title, the tension continues as Carmichael’s first day at work give birth to the most tragic space disaster ever. The movie then becomes lazy as moments become filled with too much conversation. Even at points where there is suspense, the conversations are overwhelming that they put out the excitement. Their mad gibberish is due to the parasite manipulating the characters.

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The movie becomes thrilling again towards the end, especially when Carmichael engages in a hand combat with one of the space marines. It is a three-minute brutal high-adrenaline action that planted me on my seat, making me forget the earlier weariness of the film. The movie is now approaching a very mind-boggling ending. After communicating with the alien life, Carmichael kills himself by draining his blood but then wakes up to see everyone alive. Only he knows the event that happened, and as one of the members said, they seem to have an intense hangover. So the team return to Earth with Carmichael. The opening scene now makes perfect sense as it is the part where the team is thoroughly cross-checked by the headquarter staffs. However, it is quite unclear what really happened to the team. This part is open to endless analyses and there can only be two reactions to such ending – be excited to come up with your own diagnosis, or be disappointed with the ambiguity. For me who does not take delight in loose endings and twisted plot, I would have the latter sentiment.

However, the movie is more than just about suspense and action as it attempts to have deeper psychological meaning. As Carmichael said, the alien life has taken control of the worst attributes of humanity – hatred, violence and conflict. Possibly, the parasites have acquired full possession of the dead bodies but instead of being bloodlust killers, they took a 360-degree turn and become low-tempered and docile beings. 

In general, Infini is relatively impressive and good-looking considering its low-budget production.  However, it has pacing and plot issues which make it less compact and haunting as a psychological horror thriller. It is passable so two and a half stars out of five for the movie.

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