Highly entertaining Pseudo-intellectual mess

Rating: 7/10 (8 December 2012)

I thoroughly enjoyed this film while I was watching it, but as soon as I left the theatre and began thinking about the plot, I became aware how the filmmakers had cobbled together the story from the book and left far too many plot holes open and used too many gimmicks.
"Intellectuals" who think this film is a masterpiece will argue that you can't compare the film to the book, while using the book to shed light upon parts of the film that don't make sense without the background story from the book. Some say the film is about reincarnation, and that is how the film was sold in its promotion, but this is not the case because there are overlapping characters. The author of the book who said the only reincarnated character in the story is the central figure of each story and appears with a comet-shaped birthmark, except that two characters with that birthmark are alive at the same time.
I wouldn't normally give such a low rating to a film that, although flawed, is entertaining, but the film is getting obscenely high ratings from followers who won't look at this film critically, and find meaning where none exists. The simple message of this movie is that throughout time humans have and will continue to prey upon each other, in one way or another. This is a simple, straight forward thought and flows through all six stories. Looking for anything more meaningful than this is a waste of time and repeated watchings of the film, or reading the book is not going to make it more meaningful.