Needed to be more humorous or less cheesy

Rating: 5/10 (14 October 2012)

This film is an amalgam of inconsistencies; While I can't say I thoroughly enjoyed the film I also can't say I passionately hated it, and that in essence is why it frustrated me.
Firstly I need to talk about pace; this is an area where this film struggled throughout. I found myself feeling at times that the pace was too quick, character development felt far too rushed to the point where it seemed forced and unbelievable and at other times the pace was at such a crawl that I found myself bored (especially the latter half).
Visually this film was very beautiful. The sets and costumes especially were lovely; the visual effects through action sequences were also quite good to stunning, yet often far too 'over-the-top' in contrast with non- action sequences. That alone is indicative of this films fundamental flaw
The premise is, let's face it; is silly. Hearing the film title I was, at the time, expecting a tongue-in-cheek action/comedy romp, well it wasn't or at least it tried not to be. Watching the dialogue and character interactions it becomes quite apparent that the film does in fact take itself very serious, then in the blink of an eye the action sequences will ask you to suspend all your disbelief, and in a big way. The action sequences, while visually impressive basically feel like they belong in a different film, they're in-congruent with the viewer's primary experience of the film. The over-the-top nature of what happens in these scenes often made me howl with laughter or cringe at how ridiculous it was. This in itself wouldn't be a bad thing if that sense of absurdity flowed-through into the rest of the film; dialogue/story etc. But alas, it did not. It seemed like the director and the visual effects lead had two separate visions for the film and no one managed the harmony between the two. I appreciate this is a Hollywood film, so plenty of action sequences are required to appeal to the unthinking majority, yet why do they have to be so ridiculous? It cheapens the film as a whole and insults the watcher. The same level of eye candy could be maintained with more realistic actions, that way more of the viewers could be happy.
The plot seemed a bit lacking, especially from the middle of the film onwards. Some of the themes which could have been better utilised were glossed-over which removed immersion from the story. The antagonists felt like they were just thrown in because the story needed some bad guys. The characters weren't engaging; I didn't feel myself rooting for them or hoping they survived, I really didn't care about them and I think that was because they weren't built up properly from the beginning. In the latter portion of the film none of the characters had aged convincingly other than Abe, again killing the immersion. Overall I found the acting to be fine but the musical score however seemed out of place at times.
If this film was a comedy (not just in action sequences) it would have worked much better and been a lot more enjoyable for me. Alternatively if this film was consistently serious (especially during the action sequences) it may have also worked better for me. But this film is a tight-rope walker; it stumbles along the wire, losing balance over-and- over again. Many-a-time it fell and landed on its crotch, the wire relentlessly crushing fragile parts of its anatomy. While humorous to see at first it soon become embarrassing and painful to watch it get back up again and again.