a very mixed bag

Rating: Null/10 (4 November 2007)

A frustratingly uneven film, with a perplexing mixture of strengths and weaknesses, reflected in its very divergent ratings here. As an exercise in visualising the near future it is compelling and convincing. It is easy to believe that grotty, disintegrating world it shows is just how it will be, and the few futuristic gadgets around are all the more convincing because of the otherwise mundane and grungy setting. Despite the dismal greyness of this world, the film still has a strange sort of visual beauty, and there is an energy and fluidity in the images that are presented.
However when it comes to small details like, acting, dialogue and narrative, everything falls apart. The script is cringe-makingly bad in places - hard to believe it was written by an native English-speaker. Acting is fairly wooden - although there is some warmth and interest in the central relationship between "Theo" and "Kee". The way the story develops is one-dimensional, with the ending laughably predictable.
Worth seeing for its visual and political imagination, but not a great film by any means.