This is a very, very difficult film to rate. On a surface level, the acting and script are pretty lousy and the characters thin. On a deeper level, as well as a technical one, this is an immaculately made and thematically rich film, and Mann is attempting some sort of post-post-modern techno-existential tone poem where performances and plot are given markedly less priority. It's aggressively a film of moments, those being every specific moment you're watching it. It's a deeply sensual work. But the more you actually think about the story and how the scenes are connecting together, it sort of falls apart. I appreciate what Mann is trying to do here but it still doesn't change the fact that the dialogue and acting are often laugh-worthy and the story/thriller elements don't seem to make a lick of sense. I'll probably need to revisit this a few more times, but after one viewing, it left me with a bad aftertaste. I will say that the movie picks up slightly in the last third or so. After a certain "wake-up" scene containing an explosion (you'll know when you get to it), things get more engaging. But by then it's a bit too late.
