Infinite movie review & film summary (2021)

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+.