Ridiculous

Rating: 1/10 (16 May 2008)

A friend told me to see this on a recommendation of 'this is waaaayyy better than Dark City!' and I, being the sap I am, took him up on it and rented it. How this film spawned two sequels is beyond me, but should be a great encouragement to anybody trying to get into the industry. Apparently the only requirement nowadays to be a film director is a penchant for violence, access to a camera and some people pretending to act in front of it. Now I can't say that this is a regular 'B' movie, and because it tries so hard to not be one it falls even harder. I suppose the 'actors' did what they could with the material and the maddening set they had to work in, but in a situation like this I indict all parties: The writers, director, cinematographer, set designer all had a collective malfunction while plotting this film. The only aspect I could give credit to is the CGI work, which is used sparingly and effectively, though in no way altered the tremendous heaviness I felt when this movie ended. You are faced with despicable or weak characters who are all just one step out of film school, and who develop and play off each other irrationally and pointlessly. The claustrophobic feeling I extracted was not intended; instead of feeling trapped and fearful for the characters lives, I felt trapped with them and wanted their lives to end quickly so the movie would be over.
I just hated this movie because it hated itself.