In a word, a "revolutionary" film. (slight spoiler, nothing big)

Rating: 10/10 (15 October 2006)

No amount of twists, turns, or spirals in any movie that came out previous or since this movie could amount to the level of trickery played on the audiences of this movie. This is mind bending mystery, combined with great action sequences, a little neo-post-hip romantic tragedy, avante-guard narration and dialog, and political agenda that is not used to smack you in the face for effect but to subtly guide the plot, at its best.
The single greatest thing about this movie is it's well-roundedness. True it's a man's man's movie, with all the brutal bare knuckle fight scenes, but there is something there for the man (and woman) with an intelligence quotient above 100, as well. It's about a man who suffers from schizophrenia/split personality disorder, whose hallucinations have blown the top off his sanity in the biggest way. Actually I should say hallucination, cause there's only one.
This character conflict alone, is the basis for all the on screen antics and groundbreaking narrative style, which highlight poor mental health as the central theme. Of course, in the trailers and even for some, the first viewing, this is not made obvious. Not only is this not obvious but neither is the fact that the main character is schizophrenic.
There's only one line that really let's you in on that fact, and it is for all practical purposes a mere innuendo, barely spoken, certainly not blatant, and is almost superfluous to the overlying action plot, so much so that it is not even spoken of at length for the until the end of the movie, where it is made clearly obvious in a very nonreal way. To play down the pronunciation of this little fact is pure genius since the whole movie revolves around the understanding of that bit of information, on an intellectual level. Even if you don't pick up on this data the movie still stands up without the realization. I mean, we don't even find out till we're more than three fourths through the film, so the plot has no problem building speed and tension until this point, and even after we are supposedly in on the gig and missed it, it still has a huge narrative value going for it because the crescendo is just around the corner and we are simply awaiting the moment when all the other characters, some of which are in the realm of sanity and some of which are not (although each character's sanity is a matter of opinion and up for debate), come crashing into the detonation point and go through a ripple in reality known as their fate.
Other points which make this one of the best films ever made: 1. The acting, although a little tongue in cheek at times, is phenomenal. 2. This is a movie that is played out to be extremely fun and comedic, which makes the movie great simply because it is not blatantly trying to be some huge profound reflection on life, and despite of this fact the movie is; 3. very serious at its core. By this I mean it's themes, namely insanity and the harsh realities for members of the lower-middle to low class males trying to have a life worth living, and the ways that these two closely related subjects (as in the way that they both entail a poverty in aspects of each of the spheres which many would assume are standard, i.e. the basic necessities of life like food, clothing, and shelter, and the basic necessities of thought, i.e. clarity and lack of hallucinations) interact on a moral plane (is it wrong to judge someone because they suffer from either poverty of the mind or poverty of possessions). 4. The coloring and photography is totally awesome. and 5. It is a film with a lot of integrity and truth through out, in spite of and at the same time because of, its humor which is 'darkly lit' at times. Like I said 'revolutionary' and one of the best films ever made. A must see for any movie fanatic!