Technical Epic.... But

Rating: 5/10 (4 November 2012)

Allow me to start by saying: I've never read the book. All I know of it is that it was deemed unfilmable.
Lets judge this film properly, shall we?
The word epic has been thrown around to describe this. And considering it was said to be unable to film the source material, of which I can make no comparison, it seems that the filmmakers did their absolute best. They juggled various stories and moved between them well enough. The wachowskis certainly made it clear that their influence was all over this film, which lead to marvelous visuals. Tom Hanks carries it entirely, working his tail off in many roles as do most of the actors. In some cases this works even when you clearly know who's behind the makeup, in other cases (Doona Bae as a redhead Caucasian, that one guy playing a strange version of Ron Israel from Sweet Genius) it fails miserably and takes us out of the experience.
My 5/10 rating was for the visuals, the acting, and the direction. The story, the content... I cannot praise at all. And can understand why "mess" is thrown around to describe this as often as epic is. I can truly say, I can't remember a single character name, I can't remember a solid theme through the film (though narration at the end seems to blatantly try to tell us, as if to say "yea in case you didn't get it here it is") and the one point that stood out in my mind was my frustration over the strange manner of speaking between Halle berry and Tom hanks during the only segment (story? Tale?) I found any interest in. Although, the film (which is easily 40 minutes dare I say an hour too long) doesn't really go anywhere. I ultimately found myself bored, begging my girlfriend to kick me to keep me awake.