Thrilling

Rating: 9/10 (29 September 2006)

I didn't really have much knowledge regarding this film prior to seeing it, although I was distantly aware of the raves that Michael Caine had been getting for his performance, so the missus and I went into this film without too many preconceptions. I have to say that it is genuinely one of the most thrilling films I have ever seen at the cinema; I had more shivers running up and down my back than during any other film I remember viewing and I don't think that's purely because the cinema had turned the air conditioning up.
Now, it's by no means a perfect film; there are some plot holes you could drive a bus through (for example the recklessness of discussing a certain assassination during the dead of night and the early part of the main protagonists escape from the farm) and there are some other rather cliché motifs (the middle section of the film was especially guilty of this and the moment just before the boat arrived at the end was pretty horrible), but the film's strengths were such that these occasional contrivances are easy to overlook; most people here have already mentioned the two long-take action set pieces, and rightly so - they are genuinely awe-inspiring in their construction and execution as to be worth the price of admission alone. The production design was also first class - it was an enormously plausible future Britain and the attention to detail was second to none. Plus the use of humour in some of the most dramatic moments was incredibly effective, I thought, and served only to highlight the brutality of the surrounding action. Likewise the moments where it led you to feel one emotion but didn't let you dwell on it for too long; its ability to manipulate you like that was superb. The acting was generally excellent, although I actually found Clive Owen to be the weak link, despite his performance being actually pretty good.
Now I, like many others, am kind of glad that some of the background wasn't really explained; when it comes to issues of the day, most of us live our lives in various states of ignorance, and this film kind of reflected that. I also enjoyed some of the subtle and not so subtle metaphor (Theo = God = Noah = deliverance blah blah blah) and generally I had a wonderfully ambivalent time. And even the missus quite liked it, which was an added bonus.
It's a real roller-coaster and I'd like to see it again. I recommend it.