Infinite

Feeling like a Fast and Furious or Jason Bourne franchise reject, Infinite is high-concept hooey that leaves you thankful it doesn’t take its title literally.

This muddled science-fiction thriller from director Antoine Fuqua (The Equalizer) is a shallow exercise in effects-driven spectacle about reincarnation and world domination — a glorified superhero origin story that can’t decide whether to play it straight or poke fun at its convoluted mechanics.

Evan (Mark Wahlberg) is at a crossroads, suffering from schizophrenia, depression, a bad temper, and a series of disturbingly vivid dreams that suggest past lives. Living in New York, he has an affinity for samurai swords that even he can’t explain.

Some clarity comes courtesy of Nora (Sophie Cookson), who seeks out Evan to explain that the world has been infiltrated by Infinites, divided into Believers (the good guys) and Nihilists (the bad guys). Fortunately, Evan and Nora are Believer, and apparently he’s been fighting to preserve world peace over the course of several lives by now.

Nora has been sent to train Evan for a rematch with Nihilist nemesis Bathurst (Chiwetel Ejiofor). With assistant from a mad scientist (Jason Mantzoukas), Evan reluctantly transforms into a vigilante hero, never sure who he can trust as an inevitable showdown looms.

Wahlberg conveys his usual brawny charisma as a man who acts as our window into this strange world, never sure who he can trust. However, Ejiofor’s villain is more cartoonish than menacing as he growls his perpetual displeasure.

Beginning with an elaborate car chase that’s given context later on, the film is loaded with technically dazzling action sequences — involving high-tech cars, cool weaponry, even time travel — although the efforts to provide context when the engines stop aren’t nearly as compelling.

The haphazard screenplay, which is based on a novel by Eric Maikranz, works so hard trying to justify the validity of a dystopian premise that could be provocative and morally complex. But instead, it bogs down in metaphysical mumbo-jumbo and seems to make up the rules as it progresses.

All the visual flourishes can’t raise the narrative stakes of a movie rooted more in formula than character development or emotional payoff. By the end, you’ll want to erase the memory of having watched Infinite.

Rated PG-13, 106 minutes.