I'll never forget first seeing this film in the theater. When I heard that this film was written by the same writer as "Seven", I expected a truly sick and twisted film. Now don't get me wrong, this most certainly is a sick and twisted film, but it wasn't nearly as graphic as I expected. Maybe that is due to this film having a different director, but nonetheless the film wasn't as graphic as I'd expected. With that said, and having watched this film a number of times, I still wouldn't recommend this film to everyone. If you like thrillers and can handle the subject of pornography and "snuff" films, then you should definitely give this film a chance.
I'm a little surprised that this film has such a low rating on IMDB. I can see why someone wouldn't like it, but I can't see why it would have such a low rating. I would assume that most viewers couldn't handle the subject and therefore gave the film a low rating.
All of the actors involved in this film did a very good job. Nicholas Cage was great as always (sometimes a little over-acting, but most of the time he was great). James Gandolfini, Joaquin Phoenix, Peter Storemare, Anthony Heald, Catherine Keener, and the rest of the supporting cast all pulled off solid performances.
Joel Schumacher really needs to stick with films like this. He really does a great job with thriller/drama type films (and needs to steer clear of certain super-hero films). Joel did a great job with this film and I look forward to his next work.
The only complaint I have about the film is the music. There were some times were the music was perfect or tolerable, but there were others where it was just horrible and detracted from the film. Some of the music in the film was too bizarre and didn't fit with the film.
Like I said, I wouldn't recommend this to everyone, but I thought this was an excellent film. I hope you enjoy the film. Thanks for reading,
-Chris
