Where have all the screenwriters gone?

Rating: 5/10 (22 December 2007)

The idea behind this film is fundamentally a good one - which is not surprising since it is based on a novel. And despite the horribly clichéd, implausible and convoluted screenplay, some of those original ideas remain. Also, to be fair, there are some nice moments in the film and it does not go Spielberg on us.
But, there seems to be a trend - maybe they all learn it in screen writing school - to focus on a couple of key scenes that need to be told and to put as many twists in the story as possible to get there, Realistic dialog, believable characters, plausible behavior, pacing, logic, good storytelling - these don't seem to matter as long as we get that Oscar winning scene and those unexpected (actually very predictable) twists.
This could have been a good movie with tighter editing and better storytelling to connect the Oscar moments - as it is - it makes about as much sense as a Steven Seagal movie and at least there you've got some cheap thrills...