Typical thriller masked by faux morality

Rating: 4/10 (23 December 2007)

It's been said that the twist(s) in this film work better because they're placed in context and they have an ethical side to them. But I disagree. This film is just as gimmicky as your typical psycho-thriller, and the fact that it attempts to hide its tricks under moral dilemmas makes it even worse, I think. It starts off well enough: it's engaging, it's interesting, it's got some meaningful things to say. But then it hits a brick wall, and has to work fast to try and regain its momentum. Once the twists starting coming fast and furious, I grew tired of them, and the ethical issues the film brings up failed to move me or excite me in any way. It just seemed like an excuse to present a fractured narrative without falling prey to the typical criticisms of the form. And the end of the film came so quickly, I didn't get shocked or surprised by the 'big reveal'; I just didn't care. I barely thought about the moral questions the film raised, because they didn't have much of an impact on me at all.
Still, the film is well-made, exciting at times, and has an interesting concept. In other words, it's just like a typical thriller, not some meaningful ethical debate. The performances are all solid, but no one was really amazing - none of the characters are really given a chance to believably grow all that much. All in all, it's just an average crime thriller, but not much more.