This film has great fight scenes. They are tremendously original and very carefully executed. There are quite a few shots and scenes that are quite breath taking. I was genuinely impressed when Christian Bale ripped the plastic coat off his window to reveal a gorgeous sunset. It really managed to convey the otherwise indescribable welling of emotion he was going through.
The plot is silly. There isn't much to say about it. It's the kind of idea you just suddenly get and then try and run with it until you realize it's not much to really work on, yet somehow somebody thought they could make a whole film out of it.
The script is definitely lackluster. There isn't a single memorable line in the thing and it would have worked just as well with no script at all.
Finally, the acting is frankly some of the worst acting I've ever seen. This stuff is only slightly above The Room level of acting. Christian Bale is supposed to be the only character capable of feeling in this city, yet his face looks like a blank slate throughout. He just seems to have been playing the wrong character from beginning to end. Conversely, Taye Diggs can't stop grinning like an idiot and generally looking quite content with himself when the whole film is supposed to be about how much of a emotionless, stone-cold killer he is. A part of me would like to believe that he was actually not taking the drug in order to enjoy murdering innocent people, in which case his character would have served as a clever social commentary on the nature of totalitarian governments. However, at no point does anybody even acknowledge the possibility of this so I can only conclude that it was just terrible acting, accompanied by god awful directing.
There is, admittedly, some good stuff in this film, but it is totally buried in sub-par garbage that you wouldn't expect from an expensive film, made by actual professionals.
The plot is silly. There isn't much to say about it. It's the kind of idea you just suddenly get and then try and run with it until you realize it's not much to really work on, yet somehow somebody thought they could make a whole film out of it.
The script is definitely lackluster. There isn't a single memorable line in the thing and it would have worked just as well with no script at all.
Finally, the acting is frankly some of the worst acting I've ever seen. This stuff is only slightly above The Room level of acting. Christian Bale is supposed to be the only character capable of feeling in this city, yet his face looks like a blank slate throughout. He just seems to have been playing the wrong character from beginning to end. Conversely, Taye Diggs can't stop grinning like an idiot and generally looking quite content with himself when the whole film is supposed to be about how much of a emotionless, stone-cold killer he is. A part of me would like to believe that he was actually not taking the drug in order to enjoy murdering innocent people, in which case his character would have served as a clever social commentary on the nature of totalitarian governments. However, at no point does anybody even acknowledge the possibility of this so I can only conclude that it was just terrible acting, accompanied by god awful directing.
There is, admittedly, some good stuff in this film, but it is totally buried in sub-par garbage that you wouldn't expect from an expensive film, made by actual professionals.