The first thing Kate Beckinsale does in 'Whiteout' is take a shower. This may be because her character, a U.S. marshal named Carrie Stetko, needs to rinse off the grime of Antarctica, where she is stationed. Or, as seems more likely, it may be because the filmmakers, realizing that she would be spending most of the movie swaddled in thick parkas and layers of thermal protection, felt that some audience members might enjoy seeing Beckinsale in her underwear and then out of it behind a strategically fogged glass door. Which is not to imply that the shower scene, interrupted by a knock at the door -- 'I'm in the shower,' Carrie cleverly replies -- is more contrived or absurd than anything else that happens in this studiously mediocre little thriller, which was directed by Dominic Sena. In the opening sequence a Soviet transport plane crashes in the ice, and a half-century later bodies start turning up. Carrie, a few days before she's supposed to leave the research complex, investigates, menaced by an impending storm and interrupted by flashbacks to some bad stuff that went down, earlier in her career, in Miami. Up there, by the way, she could work in a sleeveless T-shirt. At her current post, she loses two fingers to frostbite, gasps in surprise when something surprising happens, and takes turns with other characters at explaining what is happening. We're stuck! It's cold! Jelly beans! The major question that keeps the movie moderately engaging is which of the men around Carrie will turn out to be one of the bad guys who go around hacking up geologists with an ice ax. Will it be the friendly pilot (Columbus Short), who accompanies her to remote encampments? Will it be the U.N. investigator (Gabriel Macht) who turns up at one of them? The kindly old doctor, known as Doc (Tom Skerritt)? That Australian guy (Alex O'Loughlin)? Or that other guy (Shawn Doyle)? No spoilers here! Though if you study the cast list you may develop an inkling. But the way 'Whiteout' walks the line between implausibility and predictability is neither unusual nor in itself a problem. The problem lies in the movie's perfunctory, by-the-numbers approach to the story and its characters. That the climactic blizzard-obscured action sequence is tedious and confusing does not help. And shouldn't there be penguins? I thought every movie about Antarctica had to have penguins. Has someone done market research proving otherwise? Is the whole penguin thing over? Or maybe the penguins read the script and told their agents to pass. Smart birds. PRODUCTION NOTES: 'WHITEOUT' Directed by Dominic Sena; written by Jon Hoeber, Erich Hoeber, Chad Hayes and Carey W. Hayes, based on the graphic novel written by Greg Rucka and illustrated by Steve Lieber; director of photography, Chris Soos; edited by Martin Hunter; music by John Frizzell; production designer, Graham Walker; produced by Joel Silver, Susan Downey and David Gambino; released by Warner Brothers Pictures. Running time: 1 hour 41 minutes. WITH: Kate Beckinsale (Carrie Stetko), Gabriel Macht (Robert Pryce), Tom Skerritt (Dr. John Fury), Columbus Short (Delfy), Alex O'Loughlin (Russell Haden) and Shawn Doyle (Sam Murphy). 'Whiteout' is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). Violence, swearing, a gratuitous shower. 