| Infini | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Shane Abbess |
| Screenplay by | Shane Abbess |
| Story by |
|
| Produced by |
|
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Carl Robertson |
| Edited by | Adrian Rostirolla |
| Music by | Brian Cachia |
| Distributed by | Vertical Entertainment |
Release date |
|
Running time | 110 minutes |
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $5 million [1] |
Infini is a 2015 Australian science fiction film directed by Shane Abbess and starring Daniel MacPherson, Grace Huang, and Luke Hemsworth. [2]
In the early 23rd century, an emergency is declared on a mining station O.I. Infini and a search and rescue (SAR) team is sent in using Slipstream, a form of teleportation that allows near instantaneous travel. The location of O.I. Infini is proximal to a number of black holes meaning the mission operatives will experience severe time dilation. A team sent returns 30 seconds later in a berserk rage. Whit Carmichael, a new member of West Coast SAR, on his first day, teleports to Infini using an illegal teleporter after West Coast HQ activates a lethal lock down to contain the crisis. Before leaving for work that day, his pregnant wife tells him to do whatever it takes to return safely.
Less than a relative hour later, East Coast SAR is informed about the outbreak and the destruction of the West Coast SAR. They are informed a payload of something from the station has been programmed by a deranged survivor to teleport soon to Earth, which will destroy the planet. The SAR is ordered to halt the payload and recover the one surviving member of the West Coast SAR, Whit. Arriving, they find a frozen slaughterhouse, eventually reuniting with Whit, who has had a week to figure out how the station operates. Whit explains that the mining staff slaughtered each other, tearing off their skin and killing one another. Whit is able to shut down the payload, but the deranged survivor suddenly attacks. Everyone is sprayed with the survivor's blood after he is shot and they become violently enraged. Whit hides from the others, then searches the station for remaining SAR personnel and anything he can learn about the infection. Finding a lab, he discovers a medical log that reveals the planet is entirely composed of alien organic material that when thawed forms a so-called "primordial ooze". It is capable of infecting, mimicking, and finally dominating any biological tissue. He further discovers the ooze is aggressive, predatory in nature, and driven by self-preservation.
Suffering mentally from infection, Whit attempts to solicit help from the remaining members of the team, but they are suffering through advanced stages of the infection, which he is resisting better. They either attack each other, kill themselves, or attack Whit. This leaves Whit the last surviving human on the station. He records a message to the ooze which plays on a loop over the loudspeakers, criticizing it for harnessing only the violent instincts of humanity, instead of working with humans. He tells it that it failed and commits suicide. The ooze moves onto the bodies, and they awaken unharmed and no longer crazed, but clearly disturbed by what has happened. They agree to teleport back and keep their story simple. As they begin to teleport, Whit sees several humanoid forms made of ooze, silently watching them go. One of them holds the picture of Whit's wife he carried with him.
Returning to Earth, the team is scanned and asked if they are free from biological contaminants. They answer in the affirmative, and the scan clears them all. Whit returns home to his wife, who had been told he was not coming back.
Infini had its international premiere on 11 April 2015 at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival. It was released simultaneously in the US and Australia. [5] The film was not released theatrically in Australia, due to fears of piracy. [6]
Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 31% of 16 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 4.73/10. [7] Dov Kornits of the Australian magazine Filmink wrote, "Infini is leading the charge in genre filmmaking in this country, proving that we have the chops to compete on the world stage." [8] Commenting on the film's similarity to Aliens , David Stratton of The Australian wrote, "Resourcefulness is all very well, but a fresh approach to the familiar cliches would also be appreciated." [9] Harry Windsor of The Hollywood Reporter called it "a genre retread in search of a plot". [10] Andrew Marshall of Starburst rated it 6/10 stars and wrote that the film "lacks the follow through to capitalise on its ideas or required sense of humanity to make you actually care". [11] Simon Abrams of The Village Voice wrote, "Infini doesn't go anywhere that superior science fiction films haven't already, but for a while, it's exciting enough to feel brand-new." [12] Oliver Pfeiffer of SciFiNow rated it 4/5 stars and called it "bold, gut-wrenching" with the "real masterstroke at play...the menacingly immersive production design and deeply atmospheric soundtrack". [13] Christopher Webster of Quiet Earth wrote that it "feels like an R-rated Twilight Zone episode more than a feature film". [14]
Christopher Hemsworth is an Australian actor. He rose to prominence playing Kim Hyde in the Australian television series Home and Away (2004–2007) before beginning a film career in Hollywood. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), Hemsworth started playing Thor with the 2011 film of the same name and most recently reprised the role in Thor: Love and Thunder (2022), which established him among the world's highest-paid actors.
Daniel MacPherson is an Australian actor and television presenter, known for his roles as Joel Samuels in Neighbours, PC Cameron Tait in The Bill, Sergeant Samuel Wyatt in Sky and Cinemax's Strike Back, Whit Carmichael in the Shane Abbess sci-fi film Infini, Arion Elessedil in The Shannara Chronicles and Hugo Crast in the first filmed adaptation of Isaac Asimov's long running Foundation book series, loosely adapted as Foundation. He also co-hosted Dancing with the Stars for six years while simultaneously starring in a number of Australian dramas such as Wild Boys.
Shane Briant was an English actor and novelist. Briant studied law at Trinity College Dublin but became a professional actor playing the lead in Hamlet at the Eblana Theatre, Dublin. Briant is best known for his roles in four Hammer Films productions; Demons of the Mind, Straight on Till Morning, Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter, and Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell. He also resided in Sydney, Australia with his wife Wendy.
Elsa Lafuente Medianu, known professionally as Elsa Pataky, is a Spanish model and actress. Pataky is known for her role as Elena Neves in the Fast & Furious franchise. She has appeared in the films Snakes on a Plane (2006), Giallo (2009) and Give 'Em Hell, Malone (2009). She also starred in the Spanish film Di Di Hollywood (2010).
Gabriel is a 2007 Australian action-horror film set in purgatory. It follows the archangel Gabriel's fight to rid purgatory of the evil fallen angels and save the souls of its inhabitants. Gabriel is the first feature directed by Shane Abbess, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Matt Hylton Todd. It stars Andy Whitfield as Gabriel, Dwaine Stevenson as Sammael, Samantha Noble as Amitiel, and Erika Heynatz as Lilith.
Liam Hemsworth is an Australian actor. He played the roles of Josh Taylor in the soap opera Neighbours and Marcus in the children's television series The Elephant Princess. In American films, Hemsworth starred as Will Blakelee in The Last Song (2010), as Gale Hawthorne in The Hunger Games film series (2012–2015), and as Jake Morrison in Independence Day: Resurgence (2016).
Gabriel Dowrick is an Australian born screenwriter and editor.
Anthony Hayes is an Australian actor, best known for his roles in War Machine, The Light Between Oceans, The Slap, Look Both Ways, The Boys, Rabbit-Proof Fence, Animal Kingdom and soap opera Paradise Beach.
Liam James McIntyre is an Australian actor, best known for playing the lead role on the Starz television series Spartacus: Vengeance and War of the Damned and as Mark Mardon / Weather Wizard on The Flash. He has also voiced JD Fenix in the Gears of War series, Captain Boomerang in the DC Animated Movie Universe, Commander Pyre on Star Wars Resistance and Taron Malicos in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. In 2016, he collaborated with Smosh Games to promote his card game Monster Lab. In 2020, he partnered with Spartacus co-star Todd Lasance to create the gaming series Get Good for the CouchSoup YouTube channel following a charity livestream benefiting Black Summer.
The Reckoning is an Australian crime thriller feature film written and directed by John V. Soto and starring Luke Hemsworth, Viva Bianca, Jonathan LaPaglia, Hanna Mangan-Lawrence, and Alex Williams. The film premiered at the British Independent Film Festival in London on 10 May 2014, where it won Best Director and Best Music.
Thor: Ragnarok is a 2017 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Thor, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the sequel to Thor (2011) and Thor: The Dark World (2013), and is the 17th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film was directed by Taika Waititi from a screenplay by Eric Pearson and the writing team of Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost, and stars Chris Hemsworth as Thor alongside Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett, Idris Elba, Jeff Goldblum, Tessa Thompson, Karl Urban, Mark Ruffalo, and Anthony Hopkins. In Thor: Ragnarok, Thor must escape the alien planet Sakaar in time to save Asgard from Hela (Blanchett) and the impending Ragnarök.
The Dressmaker is a 2015 Australian comedy-drama film co-written and directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse, based on the 2000 novel of the same name by Rosalie Ham. It stars Kate Winslet as a femme fatale in the title role of the dressmaker, Myrtle "Tilly" Dunnage, who returns to a small Australian town to take care of her ailing, mentally unstable mother.
The film explores the themes of revenge and creativity and was described by Moorhouse as "Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven with a sewing machine". The film was internationally co-financed between Australia and the United States.
The vocal performance of Winslet with an Australian accent was universally lauded and is widely considered to be one of the greatest Australian accents by an actor not native to Australia, as well as one of the best foreign accents delivered in global film.
Shane Abbess is an Australian filmmaker best known for making the movies Gabriel and Infini.
Ben O'Toole is an Australian actor. He is known for his role as Rex Coen in Bloody Hell, his recurring roles in several Australian TV series such as Amazing Grace, as well as for his supporting roles in films such as Hacksaw Ridge (2016) and 12 Strong (2018).
Trumped: Inside the Greatest Political Upset of All Time is a 2017 American documentary film that chronicles the presidential campaign of Donald Trump, leading up to his electoral victory in November 2016. The film was directed by Ted Bourne, Mary Robertson, and Banks Tarver, and was created from footage that was shot for the Showtime television documentary series, The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth, starring Mark Halperin, John Heilemann, and Mark McKinnon; the three also appear in the film.
The Osiris Child: Science Fiction Volume One is a 2016 Australian science fiction film directed by Shane Abbess and starring Daniel MacPherson, Kellan Lutz, and Rachel Griffiths.
Thor Odinson is a fictional character portrayed by Chris Hemsworth in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) media franchise, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name and the Norse mythological god of thunder. In the MCU, he is depicted as one of the most powerful Asgardians, Avengers, an ancient alien civilization with long ties to Earth, who humans consider to be gods. Thor wields a powerful hammer called Mjolnir, and is initially depicted as the arrogant heir to the throne of Asgard whose brash behaviors causes turmoil among the Nine Realms under Asgard's protection. This brings him into conflict with his villainous adopted brother, Loki, the god of mischief.
Interceptor is a 2022 action thriller film directed by Matthew Reilly in his directorial debut, from a screenplay by Reilly and Stuart Beattie and a story by Reilly. An international co-production between Australia and the United States, the film stars Elsa Pataky and Luke Bracey. It follows a tough and reality-bruised army officer who finds herself in charge of a lone nuclear missile interceptor base in the middle of the Pacific Ocean after she is wrongfully drummed out of her dream job at the Pentagon.
Land of Bad is an upcoming American action thriller film directed by William Eubank, who co-wrote the script with David Frigerio. The film stars Liam Hemsworth, Russell Crowe, Luke Hemsworth, Ricky Whittle, and Milo Ventimiglia.
