I regret to say that I find this movie to be completely unwatchable and was forced to give up on it after the first 30-40 minutes. Despite the obvious effort and creativity which went into the visual style and appearance of the film, there is nothing to see here.
With nothing in this movie that makes me either care about the characters or want to know what happens next, all that is left is a sequence of visually artistic scenes. This would be fine in an art gallery, but it is a very, very bad thing in the forums of film and storytelling. Even comic books require far more substance than is shown in this movie.
Other reviews I've read here either do not mention any similar reactions or reflect a much less negative perception, e.g., "style over substance". Other than differences in personal tastes, the only way I can reconcile these wide variations is that perhaps the film comes across better on the big screen (I saw it on video).
- The characters are utterly lifeless, making it impossible to identify with any of them. There is also no "viewpoint" created outside of the characters from which one could otherwise observe them and understand the story and/or themes.
- The film is shot with consistently visually dark scenes that cast a further dead pall on both story and characters. This is true of many of the action scenes, making them especially confusing.
- Due to either editing or the script, the plot of the story comes across as very confused. There is grossly inadequate time given to introducing any of the characters, the setting (time/place), or the basic conflicts at work (who are the "factions", what motivates them, etc.) In another film, some or perhaps even all of the above flaws could be overlooked or would perhaps be irrelevant, e.g., a horror movie. This, however, is supposed to be an adventure story. A good adventure story, though, consists of a relatively simple main plot line (usually), at least one character that the viewer is soon made to care about (frequently more than one), and a visually straight-forward presentation with non-confusing action sequences and relatively clear character motivations. None of this is true for this film.
With nothing in this movie that makes me either care about the characters or want to know what happens next, all that is left is a sequence of visually artistic scenes. This would be fine in an art gallery, but it is a very, very bad thing in the forums of film and storytelling. Even comic books require far more substance than is shown in this movie.
Other reviews I've read here either do not mention any similar reactions or reflect a much less negative perception, e.g., "style over substance". Other than differences in personal tastes, the only way I can reconcile these wide variations is that perhaps the film comes across better on the big screen (I saw it on video).