This was an engrossing and intriguing movie. It played with tropes and mixed them up.
Annoying missionaries, and to the missionaries the annoying 'customer' who wants to debate at length.
The film played expertly with the sense of unknown and the accompanying dread that was created from it.
Hugh Grant's Mr Reed playing so well at walking the line but not crossing it. Moving things forward without giving an inkling of where it was going. Giving the impression of choice but was there really any?
Where it faltered for me was in the 3rd act where it revealed probably too much about him. Just another nutter, but wouldn't it have been cool if we were never quite sure.
I loved that they toyed with the current delemmer of not know who to trust about what. That seems bad but then they gave a plausible explanation etc etc. We're engulfed in it and there is no clear sign that one party still holds to reason logic and honest over the other.
A world of Plausible lies, or is it the truth? You simply can't tell any more.
The script was detailed and pop culture referential.
Lots of clever asides, ("You're thinking of the butterfly effect").
I liked the ambiguity a lot, and the central what's in the afterlife conundrum, or was it basing your con on that set up? It was intriguing, and I was buying it.
But It was almost a runaway original and innovative great script apart from a handful of loose end points which took it down several notches from the very high standard it set for itself.
Where it fell down was the very quick lesson about the one true god, I didn't follow the reasoning and up to this point it played very well, then the caged entourage who "do it willingly"? That was an interesting point not sold well either. I loved how it tied to following religion, but it lost me here too.
And the final failing was the saviour who managed to bleed out but then climb several stairs deliver a death blow, although it wasn't clear what Reed was trying to do at this point anyway, and then passed away.
This could have been a timeless great movie if they'd managed to solve a few niggling contrivances.
As it was it was better for the questions it asked, thought experiments and warping tropes.
