There is a lot to like about this film, particularly the first half of it. Like pretty much all films of the "I just woke up here alone" genre, it's thoughtful and captivating. And it moves nicely into the "yet another zombie movie" genre that these things tend to turn into. But the style and the focus are very, very good. This film deserves to be recognized for that, if nothing else. I also liked that, even though you saw the man's identity coming, it was still satisfying when it was revealed.
There were some things I didn't like:
(1) The pacing, particularly in the second half, is dreadfully slow, and for no good reason.
(2) Many, many, many questions are left unanswered. Why is this man biologically special? If the tree roots feed on humans, why do we need to hang humans in boxes from the branches? What is turning humans into these monsters? Why is level -1 so much higher up from level -2 than any of the other levels were apart? Who is the guy who appeared to be integrated into the wall, and how did he think he was sabotaging things? Why would someone so willingly let himself be experimented on by a stranger wearing a mask? How did he get unclothed in the mud? Why bother with an apparently irrelevant religious quote at the start? What good did growing the tree at the end do?
(3) Ultimately, after sitting through a reasonably good zombie mystery, it's incredibly annoying for the payoff to be a lecture on energy use and the world's indigenous poor people. It's not the point of view I have trouble with, but the heavy-handed way it was narrated to us in the last few scenes on level 0. Avatar is a much better example of how to get across a message without being lecturing.
There were some things I didn't like:
(1) The pacing, particularly in the second half, is dreadfully slow, and for no good reason.
(2) Many, many, many questions are left unanswered. Why is this man biologically special? If the tree roots feed on humans, why do we need to hang humans in boxes from the branches? What is turning humans into these monsters? Why is level -1 so much higher up from level -2 than any of the other levels were apart? Who is the guy who appeared to be integrated into the wall, and how did he think he was sabotaging things? Why would someone so willingly let himself be experimented on by a stranger wearing a mask? How did he get unclothed in the mud? Why bother with an apparently irrelevant religious quote at the start? What good did growing the tree at the end do?
(3) Ultimately, after sitting through a reasonably good zombie mystery, it's incredibly annoying for the payoff to be a lecture on energy use and the world's indigenous poor people. It's not the point of view I have trouble with, but the heavy-handed way it was narrated to us in the last few scenes on level 0. Avatar is a much better example of how to get across a message without being lecturing.