A completely unfathomable movie

Rating: 2/10 (27 April 2007)

I have just watched this movie on DVD with some friends and we were all simply dismayed. We had read some really good reviews and are left to feel that the movie producers must have written them all. The plot is poorly developed, leaving gaping holes in continuity and nothing but questions about who?, what? why? and how? Michael Caine's character is the most memorable but his relationship with Theo is never really explained. Indeed no relationships are either explained or explored. There is little or no character development and the viewer is left to fumble through the movie, avoiding sporadic and meaningless violence, without knowing why.
Some elements of this movie, particularly the use of animals and an apparent footwear fetish, add nothing to the movie except further confusion. To add insult to injury, there is no outcome. At the end of 2 hours of pure bewilderment we are left with no better understanding of what we have just watched.
I am dismayed by the number of positive reviews. The movie was poorly acted for the most part, gratuitously depressing throughout and failed to explain its premise. It reminds me of a TV segment I saw some time ago which illustrated the stupidity of so called art lovers who paid ridiculous sums of money for painting done by elephants. A bunch of supercilious nitwits standing in a gallery discussing the meaning and brilliance of randomly splattered paint from brushes wielded by an elephant's trunk. I think the elephants could have made a better movie than this. If you are offered the chance to see this movie - don't.