Beautiful, touching and moving... a tale of a love so strong it defies death itself

Rating: 7/10 (13 May 2006)

I must say this film surprised me. Coming in, I knew nothing about it but the famous clay-forming scene... I didn't know I was in for such a strong experience. This film had me from the first few moments of it. I never lost interest. The plot is so interesting and intriguing, you can't help but watch, often at the very edge of your seat. I will say that I found one twist somewhat predictable, but maybe I've just seen too many later movies before watching this. There is a lot of suspense in this film. When I found that it was directed by a Zucker(yup... Airplane and so forth), I was somewhat doubtful as to any other quality in the film than the humor of it... if you're reading this and you're thinking the same, trust me; he pulls it off. Excellently. There are few, if any, flaws in directing. The writing is solid. At times, there seemed to be a little too much humor and some scenes were maybe a tad long, but apart from that, there was not really anything with this film that was flawed. The score is great. The pacing is incredibly good. The acting is really good all-round. Goldberg provides a lot of comic relief, without being obnoxious. Moore and Swayze have magnificent chemistry, you truly believe them as a couple. The special effects are grand, yet they don't take over the movie. This is driven by the emotions, by how the plot affects these characters. I was completely into this movie all the way. The humor is very good and surprisingly tasteful for the theme. Much of it is derived from the situation of Swayze's character and his interaction with environment and other characters. All in all, just a very impressive film. I recommend this to any fan of drama, romance, comedy, thriller or fantasy, as well as anyone interested in seeing a non-parody Zucker film and fans of the actors. 7/10