A future classic

Rating: 8/10 (19 November 2006)

I really enjoyed this film - it works well as a piece of entertainment and something with a bit more bight. Like a lot of dystopia-future type films, it says a lot about the present, particularly the tabloid hysteria over immigration (interestingly there's quite a few Polish people in this film, something of a bugbear for the gutter press at the moment)and the footage we see everyday of Iraq. I think this film would sit nicely alongside Brazil, Dark City, or even Three Kings. Technically it's superb - it looks brilliant, and was nicely sombre and gritty, which worked fantastically with the special effects. The battle scenes were truly breathtaking, as were the sudden, almost off-hand explosions. It ends nicely as well, avoiding the temptation to 'over-tell' the story beyond its natural ending as far too many films have done recently. The actors all give good performances here, especially Clive Owen who makes a natural hero without resorting to absurd posturing, and Michael Caine is brilliant as ever, at once familiar yet completely different, even making 'pull my finger' fit into this movie somehow! All in all, this is really a film worth seeing. I just hope we can look back in 20 years and laugh at how wrong this prediction was...