Don’t you just hate getting executed while on vacation? Now, you’d think nobody could ever make that statement. Well … think again. Cloning: it’s not just for mad scientists any more.
Welcome to Latoka, a vaguely Balkan resort/third world police state. The resort looks nice. Failed novelist James Foster (Alexander Skarsgård) and his Sugar Mama (Cleopatra Coleman) are here for a little peace and passive aggression. Is Em (Coleman) tired of James’ act? Is this marriage getting by on looks alone?
Later at the beach, James meets a fan, Gabi (Mia Goth). James has never met a fan of his writing. It probably doesn’t hurt that Gabi is attractive as well. Who doesn’t like flattery in this form? Gabi and her husband, Alban (Jalil Lespert), immediately attach themselves to James and Em. This is where the trouble begins.
I thought the trouble was going to be sexual, especially after Gabi gives James a friendly tug at the beach, but the problem actually starts when James insists he’s the least drunk among them, and accidentally kills a local farmer while driving back to the resort. Then the plot takes over. And, boy is it a doozy. You see, this particular nation doesn’t have a progressive justice system. There aren’t shades of indiscretion in Latoka. These guys seem to equate vagrancy and murder one. The penalty for involuntary manslaughter is death … to be carried out by the eldest son of the victim.
Ahhhh, but this is a sci-fi film. And the backwards justice system of Latoka understands that a substitute vengeance is as good as the original. Yes, that doesn’t make sense. Here’s the deal—as long as a person’s clone is killed, justice has been served. So the Latoka police work closely with Latoka scientists; if a prisoner can pay the big Latoka bucks, they can have themselves cloned and then witness their clone being executed. (And then they have a neat urn keepsake from their vacation!)
At this point, Infinty Pool had me riveted. What a bizarre sense of justice! What a politically-devolved-yet-scientifically 
–advanced society you have! And how does our “hero” feel about this? Has he learned his lesson? Is it really him? How do we know it’s not his clone? How does HE know he’s not a clone? This could be a really great black comedy.
It wasn’t. Infinity Pool devolves at this point, going for the R-rating ahead of the stuff that lit up my brain. It’s sad when a film falls so hard that I can no longer recommend it. I remember reading something about baseball players years ago that I never forgot – the number of players who start out with Hall of Fame career paths and then lose it along the way –cut down by injury or failure to adjust or their own personalities—is far, far greater than the number of genuine HoFers. I feel like this has happened a lot in film recently –it seems like that there have been a number of films of late that started out as award winners and ended up being duds. I am not encouraged by this, Infinity Pool.
As for writer/director Brandon Cronenberg, the son of David Cronenberg … well, gee, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, now does it? What is the family motto? “It is better to be disturbing than respected?” I’d buy that.
There once was a dude up on manslaughter
Who got a clone to be his cannon fodder
So whaddaya suppose
Of his guilty throes?
Suffice to say his choices ain’t bein’ what they oughtta
Rated R, 117 Minutes
Director: Brandon Cronenberg
Writer: Brandon Cronenberg
Genre: Shitty vacations
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: David Cronenberg, I’m guessing
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Spokespeople for third-world countries
