If Clive Owen and Dystopian futures playing off of the Ghost in the Shell-like concept of hacking coming together sound like a good idea, then the premise of this film might be right up your alley. As a fan of both concepts of futurist cinema, the premise is all there, and with its slow-moving plot, surreal POV camera work that is painfully slow and characters unable to use their brains, the execution leaves much to be desired while its portrayal of women could be considered contemptuous.
Clive Owen plays a detective that works in a criminal system that can see everything and recall everything because it's recorded. This big brother concept takes a twist by placing the recording device in the eyes of its people, and it is by hacking the eyes and recordings in people's minds that a string of murders take place while concealing the identity of the killer - who imposes their own vision over the senses of those they kill. As the main character says, this brings the police back to a genuine "who done it". If the story followed a "who done it plot", then this wouldn't be too bad, but the police seem to be incapable of using basic forensics, which leads to over an hour of sitting around tables while staring off into space, smoking, drinking and shagging hookers instead.
On a visual level, the stark environments are desaturated even further in editing, adding to the underlying tension of the film. Sets are concrete, institutionalized and imposing structures, which could have been symbolic but aren't fully realized within the plot. Societal regression might even be considered as a visual element considering the nostalgia that persists in characters' near-constant smoking and drinking in suits cut in a style that is reminiscent of the 50's. Sadly, there is barely a woman in the film who isn't there to take of their clothes and spread their legs. It might be considered a shame that women couldn't find a role in in this movie without having to have sex for it.
The lynch pin for psychological thrillers of this kind could be said to be in the pondering of greater societal questions. In this case there is some thought to the impact of current technology and the implications of cybernetics and transparency that isn't without merit, though as a story there isn't a grand reveal or a strong conclusion.
On a visual level, the stark environments are desaturated even further in editing, adding to the underlying tension of the film. Sets are concrete, institutionalized and imposing structures, which could have been symbolic but aren't fully realized within the plot. Societal regression might even be considered as a visual element considering the nostalgia that persists in characters' near-constant smoking and drinking in suits cut in a style that is reminiscent of the 50's. Sadly, there is barely a woman in the film who isn't there to take of their clothes and spread their legs. It might be considered a shame that women couldn't find a role in in this movie without having to have sex for it.
The lynch pin for psychological thrillers of this kind could be said to be in the pondering of greater societal questions. In this case there is some thought to the impact of current technology and the implications of cybernetics and transparency that isn't without merit, though as a story there isn't a grand reveal or a strong conclusion.