Whiteout is a 2009 feature film based on the 1998 comic book of the same name by Greg Rucka and Steve Lieber. The movie opens in 1957 inside a Russian cargo plane flying above Antarctica. In the cargo hold, three Russians sit with a padlocked box. The co pilot begins a gun fight that soon leads to the plane crashing and the death of all aboard. Then we fast forwards to a present day geographical research settlement in Antarctica. The inhabitants are preparing to evacuate in the face of an early winter storm. They must depart before the onset of winter or remain for six months.  US Marshal Carrie Stetko (Kate Beckinsale) has been working in remote Antarctica for two years, since a betrayal by her partner in Miami that killed him and nearly killed her. She is finally planning to leave, but first is called upon with her friend Doc (Tom Skerritt) and pilot Delfy (Columbus Short) to retrieve a body spotted in a remote area. A cursory autopsy first reveals only an old wound, stitched closed, but then discloses that the man was murdered with an axe.  The dead man is Anton Weiss one of a group of three scientists looking for meteorites. When Carrie goes to speak to one of the others, she finds him dying from a neck wound and is herself attacked by a black clad man with an axe. Carrie injures her hands in escaping, losing the wet skin of her fingers on the metal handle of a door. Later she finds Robert Pryce (Gabriel Macht) a UN security agent, examining the body of the second scientist. They conclude that the third, who is missing must be the killer and set out to explore the group’s most recent research site. There Carrie falls through the ice to find the old Russian cargo plane. Pryce and the pilot Delfy join her to investigate, and they realize that the locked box had been opened and six cylinders removed. After nearly being trapped by a cave in at the plane, Carrie has her badly frostbitten fingers amputated by Doc. She then finds the missing scientist hiding in her office. He tells her that he and his two companions found the plane and took the canisters, but the killer has them now. Before Carrie can see him to safety he is killed, but Carrie captures his killer Russell Haden (Alex O’Loughlin). With Haden locked in the brig and the winter storm only moments away, Carrie and Pryce search for the canisters. Haden however escapes. The storm a “whiteout” hits. Able to navigate through the blinding snow only by the system of security ropes, Pryce and Carrie pursue Haden. Just as Haden is about to kill Carrie, Pryce cuts Haden’s rope sending him to a cold death.  At the base Carrie and Pryce open the bag Haden had been carrying to find that the missing canisters contain only jelly beans.  Carrie has a colleague on the departed plane fax her a manifest of its cargo, so she can see if the original contents of the canisters are hidden there. There is nothing unexpected, but three items from the science center are missing the bodies of the dead scientists. She searches their body bags and finds nothing, but, noticing that the stitching on Weiss’s old wound matches the distinctive pattern on her amputated fingers, she takes a look inside one of then bodies and finds several bags of large uncut diamonds.  She turns to find Doc in the doorway. Doc confesses that he was part of the diamond smuggling ring with the others before Haden killed the rest. He had hoped that the diamonds would give him a life worth leaving Antarctica for. When Doc tells her he wants to see the aurora australis one last time, she allows him to walk outside to his death.  Six months later Carrie, Pryce and Delfy are among those who have wintered at the facility. Carrie transmits an e-mail to her director, rescinding her previous resignation and asking for a warmer station for her next duty station.

Kate Beckinsale as Carrie Stetko
Kate Beckinsale is an English actress her films include Much Ado About Nothing (1993), Royal Deceit (1994), Uncovered (1994), Marie Louise ou la permission (1995), Haunted (1995), Shooting Fish (1997), The Last Days of Disco (1998), Brokedown Palace (1999), The Golden Bowl (2000), Pearl Harbor (2001), Serendipity (2001), Laurel Canyon (2002), Tiptoes (2003), Underworld (2003), Van Helsing (2004), The Aviator (2004), Underworld Evolution (2006), Click (2006), Snow Angels (2007), Vacancy (2007), Winged Creatures (2008), Nothing But the Truth (2008), Whiteout (2009) and Everybody’s Fine (2009).  Her films made for television include One Against the Wind (1991), Rachel’s Dream (1992), Anna Lee: Headcase (1993), Cold Comfort Farm (1995), Emma (1996) and Alice Through the Looking Glass (1998).  She is married to director Len Wiseman who has directed Underworld, Underworld Evolution and Die Hard 4.0.

Gabriel Macht as Robert Pryce
Gabriel Macht is an American actor his films include Why Would I Lie (1980), The Object of My Affection (1998), The Adventures of Sebastian Cole (1998), Simply Irresistible (1999), The Bookie’s Lament (2000), 101 Ways The Things a Girl Will Do to Keep Her Volvo (2000), American Outlaws (2001), Behind Enemy Lines (2001), Bad Company (2002), The Recruit (2003), Grand Theft Parsons (2003), A Love Song for Bobby Long (2004), The Good Shepherd (2006), Because I Said So (2007), The Spirit (2008), Whiteout (2009), One Way to Valhalla (2009), A Bag of Hammers (2010) and Love and Other Drugs (2010).  He has appeared in TV series such as Beverly Hills 90210, Spin City, Sex and the City, Wasteland, The Others and Num3ers.

Columbus Shor as Delfy
Columbus Short is an American actor his film include You Got Served (2004), War of the Worlds (2005), Accepted (2006), Stomp the Yard (2007), This Christmas (2007), Quarantine (2008), Cadillac Records (2008), Whiteout (2009), Armored (2009), Death at a Funeral (2010), The Losers (2010) and Stomp the Yard 2: Homecoming (2010).  He has appeared in TV series such as ER, Judging Amy, That’s So Raven and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.

Tom Skerritt as Dr John Fury
Tom Skerritt is an American actor his films include War Hunt (1962),One Man’s Way (1964), Those Calloways (1965), MASH (1970), Wild Rovers (1971), Harold and Maude (1971), Fuzz (1972), Thieves Like Us (1974), Arrivano Joe e Margherito (1974), Big Bad Mama (1974), The Devil’s Rain (1975), La madama (1976), The Turning Point (1977), Up in Smoke (1978), Ice Castles (1978), Alien (1979), Savage Harvest (1981), Silence of the North (1981), Fighting Back (1982), Flash Fire (1982), The Dead Zone (1983), Top Gun (1986), SpaceCamp (1986), Opposing Force (1986), Wisdom (1986), Maid to Order (1987), Big Town (1987), Honor Bound (1988), Poltergeist III (1988), Big Man on Campus (1989), Steel Magnolias (1989), The Rookie (1990), Wild Orchid II (1991), Poison Ivy (1992), Knight Moves (1992), A River Runs Through It (1992), Singles (1992), Contact (1997), Smoke Signals (1998), The Other Sister (1999), Texas Rangers (2001), Tuscaloosa (2002), Changing Hearts (2002), Tears of the Sun (2003), Swing (2003), Bonneville (2006), Beer for My Horses (2008), The Velveteen Rabbit (2009), Whiteout (2009), For Sale by Owner (2009) and Black, White and Blues (2010).   He has appeared in TV series such as The Virginian, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Bonanza, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Time Tunnel, Hawaii Five O, S.W.A.T, Cheers, Will & Grace, The West Wing and Law & Order Special Victims Unit.

Alex O’Loughlin as Russell Haden
Alex O´Loughlin is an Australian actor he is best known for his roles in The Shield as Kevin Hiatt and Mick St John in Moonlight.  His films include Oyster Farmer (2004), Man Thing (2005), Feed (2005), The Holiday (2006), The Invisible (2007), August Rush (2007), Whiteout (2009) and The Back up Plan (2010).   He has appeared in TV series such as The Shield, Moonlight, Criminal Minds, Three Rivers and Hawaii Five-0

Click for Whiteout film trailer