Hollywood has yet again tried to bring forth an intense and engaging action-thriller — and unfortunately, “Whiteout,” directed by Dominic Sena, didn’t succeed as the “next great action flick.”

While the story itself is actually quite interesting, the dialogue can only be described as poor, and the action scenes are more reminiscent of something out of an old “Mortal Combat” video game.

Most of the filming was done in Manitoba and Quebec, leading to scenes filled with beautiful landscapes of snow covered hills and gorgeous skies.

The movie begins with a Russian aircraft flying through the freezing, windy skies of mountainous Antarctica holding multiple passengers that seem to be of some sort of governmental status.

The Russians are in a celebratory mode for reasons unknown, playing cards and drinking vodka.

That is until one gunshot turns into an all-out bloodbath, sending the plane plummeting to the ground only to be swallowed by the endless amounts of snow.

The movie then flashes forward to years later, where Kate Beckinsale plays the role of U.S. Marshall Carrie Stetko, the only Marshall assigned to a scientific research base located near the area of the previous plane crash, which has not yet been discovered.

Stetko — who is still haunted by the nightmares of a previous case that unfolds in her mind throughout the course of the story — has very little trust in anyone except for Dr. John Fury (Tom Skerritt) who is the medic assigned to the research base.

After being called upon to check out a body found in Middle of Nowhere, Antarctica, Stetko learns the body was that of a man who was also assigned to a research team stationed in a different part of the region.

From there, she determines that the gruesomely wounded body was a victim of a brutal homicide and has Dr. Fury take a look at the corpse to concur with this notion. This evolves a case that must be solved within three days before winter comes through.

Sent to also investigate the murder, U.N. Operative Robert Pryce (Gabriel Macht), joins forces with Stetko, much to her dismay, to discover just what happened in the snow-covered hills.

This sets the scene for a cesspool of more bodies to be found, a series of more murders and the unleashing of mysterious secrets that date back to the falling of the Russian aircraft that are still worth killing over.

Although the dialogue is less than satisfactory, the acting done by Beckinsale, Skerritt and Macht certainly helped with the engagement of the story.

The always-beautiful Kate Beckinsale did a wonderful job portraying a character who tries so hard to run from the past and yet can never seem to get far enough way to lose it.

Tom Skerritt, who has performed in more than 100 films and probably most remembered for his roles in 1980s classics, “Top Gun” (1986) and “Steel Magnolias” (1989), played the usual father figure-like character that he seems to be best at.

Though it may be true that the film certainly provides a decent story and striking winter scenery, not rushing out to see “Whiteout” will certainly not be much of a missed opportunity.

Reach the reporter at bryan.brougham@asu.edu.