Good Mind-Bending Sci-Fi Let Down By Poor Acting
Infinity Chamber is an interestingly crafted futuristic sci-fi that manages to stitch together several plot lines from different movies that come together to form a decent cerebral science fiction flick. Unfortunately, lacklustre acting and a nonsensical, frustrating ending let down the film from the enjoyable watch it was for the first three quarters of the film or so. The story focuses on Frank (Christopher Soren Kelly), who awakens to find himself in an automated, steel prison. Alone with an AI computer that tells him he’s here for “processing” but refuses to disclose why he’s been imprisoned, Infinity Chamber looks set to be a futuristic prison break where Frank looks to try and outsmart the AI computer. Thrown on top of this escape are a series of memories, constantly replayed inside Frank’s mind in a poor tribute to Groundhog Day. At first, these scenes do well in showing the events that led up to Frank being detained but it quickly devolves into a plot device that never really goes anywhere. Technically, Infinity Chamber does have a low budget feel but it never feels distracting, with a wide array of different camera angles and shots to keep the film from becoming stale. Colour wise, the film has a consistent colour palette that works really well to differentiate between the memories and the prison. Cold, relentless white and grey steel dominate for much of the film but the memories have a more colourful palette, bathing parts of the screen in warm oranges. Despite a decent plot for most of the film and a technically adept set up, Infinity Chamber falters with its ending and acting. Frank in particular is bad for parts of the film, falling into the over-acting category for some scenes and under-performing in others. This hot and cold approach to the script makes for some pretty jarring scenes that jump from irate, incredulous rants to calm, calculated exchanges. Infinity Chamber is a real disappointment in this area. Some of this can of course be blamed on the script but the hot/cold acting does become a distraction. Its not just Frank either, the other supporting characters are also pretty poor in their roles and coupled with a bad ending that makes no sense given what’s come before, Infinity Chamber does feel disappointing. The questions raised in the film are barely answered and when a few of them are, its done in a way that’s less than satisfying. Infinity Chamber does well for the first hour or so of its run-time, a consistent colour scheme and the interesting, cerebral plot does a great job of keeping the mystery high and pushing the plot forward. The strange mash-up of different sci-fi films seems to work really well but past the hour mark, the film takes a mis-step and never really recovers. Plagued by poor acting and a really lacklustre ending, this low-budget sci-fi fails to recreate the spectacle in the films it tries so hard to mimic.
