Infinitum: Subject Unknown, movie (2021)
image © Fizz and Ginger Films
The Infinitum: Subject Unknown (2021) is a contemporary fantasy thriller film. The movie was reviewed by Kadmon.
Product: Infinitum: Subject Unknown, movie (2021)
Original title: Infinitum: Subject Unknown
Series: Infinitum
Setting: contemporary alternate Earth
Product type: Film, Genre: contemporary fantasy thriller, Style: sci-fi, thriller, fantasy, contemporary fantasy, time loop
Release: 2021.03.03
Reviewer: Kadmon, Type: Male, 40s, Preferences: Immersive, logical story, consistent setting, prefers surprises to spoilers, prefers establishing elements before referencing them
Watched: very recent (2022.01), first time
Rating: Bad (1 out of 3 points), Enjoyment: Weak (2- out of 3 points)
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This is my review of Infinitum: Subject Unknown, a contemporary fantasy thriller movie from 2021. It's about a woman trapped in a bad situation from what she tries to get out of. The Infinitum: Subject Unknown film is pointless, I don't recommend it to anyone.
If you'd like to be surprised by the Infinitum: Subject Unknown film, I don't recommend you to watch the trailer beyond 0:18, because it starts to give away too much of the plot. It basically provides a summary of the film, even the last moments of the movie.
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Review (spoiler-free) - Infinitum: Subject Unknown, movie (2021)
I've randomly run into this movie, as it was recommended for me as a sci-fi film. I've seen that Ian McKellen stars in it, so I hoped this would be at least somewhat interesting. I didn't watch the trailer, or read any information about the movie and its setting.
The Infinitum: Subject Unknown movie is about a woman trapped in a bad situation from what she tries to get out of.
The concept of the story is interesting, but the actual plot is boring and makes no sense. Throughout the movie, nothing is happening, then it suddenly ends, making the whole story utterly pointless. The pacing is consistent. There are no character arcs. I didn't find major logical problems.
The cinematography is okay. It was not interesting visually, but they made the setting believable.
The's only one character, and the whole concept of the movie is that we don't get to know anything about her. The actors are okay. We see Ian McKellen for about four seconds, and he doesn't interact with any other cast members. About 99% of the movie is carried on the back of Tori Butler-Hart alone, and she is not bad, but not particularly interesting.
The music (by Tom Kane) is monotonous, but that's okay for this movie.
Infinitum: Subject Unknown is a barely watchable contemporary fantasy thriller, that I think only the most dedicated fans of the genre could enjoy.
My experience
I was not satisfied with Infinitum: Subject Unknown (2021). I prefer complete stories, but this movie couldn't deliver that.
Rating: Bad (1 out of 3 points). Infinitum: Subject Unknown is boring and pointless.
Enjoyment: Weak (2- out of 3 points). I dislike Infinitum: Subject Unknown, but I liked some concepts of the story.
Rewatchability: Low. I don't think anyone would want to watch this again for a second time.
Chance of watching it again: Very low. Unless I read some analysis of the movie that allows me to make sense of the scenes, I don't think I would ever watch this.
Chance of watching a sequel: I'm still interested in watching a conclusion to the story, but I'd make sure to read reviews before watching a sequel.
Infinitum: Subject Unknown, movie (2021)
image © Fizz and Ginger Films
Will you enjoy this?
If you like mystery movies, you might like Infinitum: Subject Unknown.
If you can get through the first half hour of the movie still interested, from then on it gets slightly better, and you might even able to watch this to the end.
If you prefer visuals over story, just avoid this movie.
If you love time loop movies, you might be interested in this film.
Watching for plot points
If you are interested in time loop stories, it might be worth watching the Infinitum: Subject Unknown movie for the plot points.
Should you watch this on your own screen at home, or is it worth going to the cinema?
The visuals probably look better if you watch it on a small screen.
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Infinitum: Subject Unknown, movie (2021)
image © Fizz and Ginger Films
Review with spoilers - Infinitum: Subject Unknown, movie (2021)
Although the concept is interesting, I didn't like the Infinitum: Subject Unknown movie.
I admit that the empty roads were nicely done, similar to 28 Days Later.
I also liked the subtle indications of the alternate universe with the blimps and the two moons.
Cover
The cover of the movie is misleading, making it look like there are other actors in the story beyond the woman.
The trailer
The trailer is basically a substitute for watching the movie.
If you prefer spoilers, it's a great trailer for the Infinitum: Subject Unknown film. If you prefer to avoid spoilers, it will ruin the movie for you.
Promise of the first scene
There's exposition about a parallel universe. We also see somebody trying to escape through the woods. I have no clue where will they take the story.
Execution: As they didn't take the story anywhere, I could be satisfied that they set that up properly in the first scene, yet, I still feel the promise unfulfilled.
Plot summary / Synopsis
We get exposition about the world from scientists, and see somebody trying to escape.
We see an alternate contemporary world, where blimps are commonplace, but the streets are empty. Also, as we later find out, there are two moons. We also see later that the empty city is actually London.
There' s a woman (played by Tori Butler-Hart) tied up in a chair in the attic of a house, with a scarf stuffed into her mouth. She is being constantly monitored. She has a bandage on her left hand. She has a flashback of a similar thing happening before. She gets out of the ropes, but for a few second, she sees another, unsaturated reality where there are burning ruins outside. The room looks like somebody barricaded the stairs. Then, there's a flash of light, and she is back in the ropes, in the chair.
The woman gets out of the ropes again, but decides she can't get out of the room. She's back in the unsaturated reality, and there's shooting outside. She gets back to the saturated world, and she finally finds the stairs leading down. She goes down, then she is suddenly on top of the stairs again. This repeats for a while, as it gets dark outside, and the scarf she drops on the stairs is still there, even though the same scarf is also around her neck.
Then we see the scientists talking about they wanted the subject to feel threatened. After she finds herself in the unsaturated world again, the woman gets reset by them
The woman starts back again in the chair in ropes. She is able to get down the stairs. The entrance to the house looks like it has been barricaded from the inside, but she is able to get out to the backyard, where she finds a car. She has a flashback of where the car keys are, and she finds them there. There's a blood stain near the car keys. She tries to start the car, when she gets reset.
This time she sees another woman moving in the background. It looks like the woman doesn't have a recollection of the previous evens, she just have a feeling of deja vu about them. She gets out of the house, and she's in an empty park, when she gets reset.
This time, a photo is different from the previous time. The other woman is also more recognisable, it's the same woman, but she is unable to catch her. She fills a bag with useful stuff. She takes the car keys automatically, that surprises her. She finds a letter with the address of a research centre, so she tries to find that. She gets quite far, when she is suddenly in the unsaturated world, and she hears threatening German voices, when she gets reset.
This time, there's no bandage on her hand when she starts. She gets the hand injured while preparing for the trip to the research centre, so she takes her scarf to put on it as a bandage. This also leave a bloodstain near the car key when she automatically takes it. She is able to start the car. As she drives, her CB radio receives a signal. She starts talking to a woman, who was hurt by someone, but the transmission gets cut off. She gets in a loop at a crossroad, getting to the same place multiple times, when she gets reset.
A scientist explains that repeating the same day to overload their brain is a good way to develop the skills of the subject, until they are able to control reality.
This time she doesn't cut her hand. She gets quite far with the car, when it breaks down, so she continues the travel on foot. Someone contacts her through the radio, and tells her to only move at night as there are soldiers everywhere. She falls asleep, then wakes up in the unsaturated world. She hears people talking about resetting someone and sending them back to the woods, then we see flashes of light. She falls asleep to wake up in the saturated world. When she is about to continue her trip on foot, she has a weird feeling, and suddenly a nearby car starts up, with the ignition key missing. While driving she sees a woman like herself on the road, so she stops the car, but as she don't have the keys, she can't start it again. Then she gets reset.
A scientist explains that in the infinite worlds theory, every single choice creates a new world. Someone with the right power is able to choose which one to get into.
This time, she is not bound. When her car breaks down, she goes to the new car, and starts it with her brain. This time she doesn't stop for the woman on the road, she drives straight through her. She gets contacted on the radio. The woman tells the other that she is almost at the research centre. The other woman talks about hundreds of rats. When near a river, she suddenly sees herself on the path from a couple of minutes ago. She finds the research centre, but the man inside doesn't notice her. Reality starts to glitch, when she gets reset.
She wakes up in front of the research centre. She sees herself on an upper floor, so she gets there, but there's nobody there, yet she sees herself on the floor below. She finds videos about herself, being tied to the chair in the room. She is reset.
She is in front of the research centre again. She gets inside, and opens a door lock with her mind. When she enters, she finds herself in another building in the unsaturated world, with a woman like herself tied to a chair. That woman passes out, while she finds herself again at the research centre. She opens another door, and sees a woman like herself ballet dancing. Then another door opens, and she find another woman like her, and she's finally able to speak to her. The other woman welcomes her back, telling her that it's not her first loop, and not her last. The woman finds herself out of the room, then in the unsaturated world, and something monstrous threatens her.
Then she gets disconnected by the ones doing the experiment, and the movie ends.
The setting
The main story is set in an alternate contemporary Earth, where there are two moons in the sky, and they have more blimps than we do.
Infinitum: Subject Unknown, movie (2021)
image © Fizz and Ginger Films
The Paraversum
There is a Paraversum. It's like our own universe, but it's been at war (although we don't know with whom are they at war with).
In the 1950s, the CIA's MK-Ultra and the Russian's psychokinesis experiments were related to the Paraversum. Recently, the Navy had Department G for research.
Wytness was working on it for 25 years. Now they have a Karos Generator that helps them stabilise something.
In this universe, the many-worlds interpretation is true, so every time something happens, a new universe branches out for every possible outcome. If I understand it right, they are able to make a person choose between these branches, and get into the world where that outcome is the reality that the person wishes for. It starts working when the person is so irritated by the reality that makes her brain let their wish come true.
What was happening actually?
The woman moves backwards in time with every reset. That's why she has bandages on her hand at first, then she injures it, then later, there's no injury on her hand.
Or, we see things in a reverse order, as the woman in the later resets seem to remember things better, then she gets injured, and she starts to forget things.
Sometimes things get multiplied, like the headband she wears; the same headband, that's acting as a bandage on her hand; and the headband she dropped on the stairs.
I also think that things are happening simultaneously. That's why she sees other versions of herself.
The message of the story
I'm not sure there's one.
The structure of the story
The scenes of the Infinitum: Subject Unknown film are mostly played in sequence, following the same storyline. But the same sequence is repeated over and over and over. We also see some flashbacks to the past and to parallel universes.
There is a single viewpoint character (the woman) in most of the regular scenes, but there are some scenes about scientist intercut with the main story.
It has a truncated arc of the dramatic structure - introduction, then action, then the movie ends without any kind of resolution.
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Things I liked
- The ballet scene looked good.
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How does it compare to the other works of the creators?
I haven't seen any other works of the writer (Tori Butler-Hart) or the writer / director (Matthew Butler-Hart). After this, I'm not sure I ever want to watch anything from them.
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Infinitum: Subject Unknown, movie (2021)
image © Fizz and Ginger Films
Analysis of the story - Infinitum: Subject Unknown, movie (2021)
I've found the story pointless and boring, preventing me from enjoying Infinitum: Subject Unknown.
Problematic elements
Montage scene: There's a montage of the woman trying to get our of the room. Time skips indicate the passage of time, but the audience just sees the woman getting from one place to another. At this point of the movie, we don't know whether the woman is able to teleport, so it would be great to see a timer on the screen, and it could skip some minutes between those moments.
No escape: The woman doesn't really try to get herself free and out of the attic. She doesn't look for tools to cut her hands free. She doesn't pull the stuff from the corners, to see what's there. She then just decides there's no way out, even though there are windows in the room she could use to get out.
Slow beginning: The start of the movie is very slow. By 10 minutes, I started to get bored. It might be exciting for the character to search the house, but the audience just waits for something to happen. Cut some of those parts, or make them exciting somehow.
The research centre: Why does she decide to go the the research centre? Also, what does it change for her that she got there? What causes her resets to start in front of the research centre?
The loop at the crossroad: It would be better to show that it's something supernatural, and not just her bad driving.
Magic: When she starts the car, or unlocks the door, it's not part of the many-worlds interpretation, it's just plain magic. The door might work in a way that she chooses to be in a universe where someone left the door open, so she could enter. But in the movie we hear that it's the lock mechanism that gets turned by her powers.
The protagonist: The credits call her Jane / Number 7. I didn't see any indication of that in the movie itself.
Unanswered questions
- Who bound the woman in the first place?
- What was the point of this movie? What was happening?
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Possibilities of improvement
How it could have been better?
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Behind the scenes
According to IMDB (referencing an interview with British GQ magazine), the creators made this film for themselves, to explore some concepts, and didn't want anyone else to be able to watch it. This explains a lot, and I agree with them, nobody else should watch this movie.
Thoughts about the reviews of others
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Infinitum: Subject Unknown, movie (2021)
image © Fizz and Ginger Films
Uses for the film - Infinitum: Subject Unknown, movie (2021)
Plot
- Scientists experiment on people.
- Scientist are experimenting with parallel universes.
- A test subject is trapped in a time loop that's controlled by the scientists.
Scenes
Designs
Scenario ideas - Role-playing game scenario ideas
- A character wakes up in a closed room, bound to a chair, with no memory of how he got there. Unless he does the exactly right steps, after a while he gets unconscious, and finds himself in the room again.
Scenario ideas - Wargame scenario ideas
Switching realities: The playing area changes between two or more realities after some time expires. For example, it starts normally, but after 3 turns, for another 3 turn it's suddenly dark, and units from a randomly controlled opponent appear in the middle of the playing area. Then they disappear after the 3 round ends. There can be several possibilities. Roll a d6:
1: Terrain: If there are specific terrain pieces on the playing area, they disappear. If there are none, they appear out of nowhere. The terrain (d6): 1-3: Buildings: houses, sheds, towers, fences, 4-6: Vegetation: tress, bushes and flowers.
2: Visibility: If it's dark, then it gets sunny. If it's sunny, it can get dark, foggy, or it could start raining.
3: Enemies: Additional enemies appear. They are either intelligent soldiers, or some mindless creatures.
4: People: Some units from the players disappear. Roll for every squad, or every model, on a roll of 6, they disappear for that time, and reappear when the time ends.
5: Stretched space: Every model is moved with one movement to a random direction.
6: Double the fun: Roll two d6, and both results effect the playing area.
Miniatures - 1/50-1/60 (28-32mm scale)
The woman: Human-sized modern female human civilian.
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Similar stories - Infinitum: Subject Unknown, movie (2021)
Short stories
Richard A. Lupoff: 12:01 PM (1973): A man finds it out that the same hour repeats for him in a time loop, that he cannot break.
Novels
Yasutaka Tsutsui: 時をかける少女 (Toki o Kakeru Shōjo) / The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (1965): A girl finds it out that the same day repeats for him in a time loop.
Graphic novels
All You Need is Kill (2004): A man finds it out that the same day repeats for him in a time loop, until he finds a way out of it.
時をかける少女 (Toki o Kakeru Shōjo) / The Girl Who Runs Through Time (2004): A girl finds it out that the same day repeats for him in a time loop. Based on the The Girl Who Leapt Through Time novel.
Movies
12:01 PM (1990 short movie): A man finds it out that the same hour repeats for him in a time loop, that he cannot break. Based on the 12:01 PM short story.
12:01 PM (1993): A man finds it out that the same day repeats for him in a time loop, until he finds a way out of it. Based on the 12:01 PM short story. It's more comedic in nature.
Boss Level (2021): A man finds it out that the same hour repeats for him in a time loop.
Edge of Tomorrow (2014): A man finds it out that the same day repeats for him in a time loop, until he finds a way out of it. Based on the All You Need is Kill graphic novel. This is a more interesting movie.
Groundhog Day (1993): A man finds it out that the same day repeats for him in a time loop, until he finds a way out of it. It's a better movie, and it's a romantic comedy.
Palm Springs (2020): A girl finds it out that the same day repeats for him in a time loop, until she finds a way out of it. It's a better movie, and it's a romantic comedy.
Source Code (2011): A man finds it out that the same minutes repeat for him in a time loop, until he finds a way out of it.
Time Traveller: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2010): A girl finds it out that the same day repeats for him in a time loop. Based on the The Girl Who Leapt Through Time novel.
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006 animation): A girl finds it out that the same day repeats for him in a time loop. Based on the The Girl Who Leapt Through Time novel.
Triangle (2009): A group of people find it that the same things keep happening to them in a time loop. Triangle is a better movie.
Зеркало для героя (Zerkalo dlya geroya) / Mirror for a Hero (1987): A man get transported into the past, and finds it out that the same day repeats for him in a time loop.
TV series & episodes
Star Trek: The Next Generation: Cause and Effect (1992): The crew of the Enterprise find themselves on a short time loop leading to the destruction of the ship, until they find a way out of it.
Computer games
Almost all computer games work like this - when the player fails, they can restart the game.
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Frequently asked questions - Infinitum: Subject Unknown, movie (2021)
Is the Infinitum: Subject Unknown film based on a book or comics?
No, Infinitum: Subject Unknown is not based on either books or comics.
Is the Infinitum: Subject Unknown film a remake or reboot?
No, the Infinitum: Subject Unknown film is neither a remake nor a reboot.
Is there a post credit scene in Infinitum: Subject Unknown? Does Infinitum: Subject Unknown have end credit scenes?
No, there's no post credit scene in Infinitum: Subject Unknown.
Where can I see Infinitum: Subject Unknown? Where can I watch Infinitum: Subject Unknown online? Is Infinitum: Subject Unknown available on Netflix? Is Infinitum: Subject Unknown on Amazon?
As of 2022.01.17, Infinitum: Subject Unknown is available on Amazon Prime TV, Apple TV, Google Play.
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Resources - Infinitum: Subject Unknown, movie (2021)
Official
Infinitum: Subject Unknown: Official website.
Fizz and Ginger Films: Infinitum: Subject Unknown: Official article.
Information
IMDB: Infinitum: Subject Unknown (2021): Database article.
WikiPedia: Infinitum: Subject Unknown: Database article.
Letterboxd: Infinitum: Subject Unknown 2021: Database article.
Rotten Tomatoes: Infinitum: Subject Unknown 2021: Database article.
Creation
: Concept art article.¤
Reviews with no spoilers - Infinitum: Subject Unknown film (2021)
: Review video about the Infinitum: Subject Unknown film with no spoilers.¤
Reviews with spoilers - Infinitum: Subject Unknown film (2021)
: Review article of the Infinitum: Subject Unknown movie, with spoilers. Includes a very detailed plot summary.¤
Analysis - Infinitum: Subject Unknown movie (2021)
: Analysis video, explaining the finale of Infinitum: Subject Unknown.¤
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Buying the product - Infinitum: Subject Unknown, movie (2021)
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Have you seen the Infinitum: Subject Unknown film? How do you like the movie? Would you recommend it to others? Do you know reviews or resources you'd like to add? What further thoughts do you have about it? Tell your opinion in the comments!
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