poor christoper nolan

Rating: 6/10 (25 May 2002)

i feel bad for christopher nolan, the director. he comes off the heels of mememto, which people may not have seen in the theater, but have gotten around to watching on dvd. he not only gets good previous material here, but a budget and 3 oscar winners in the actor and actress categories. i won't give anything away. there is only one thing a viewer of this film should do--rent the original (or watch it on ifc). someone stepped in on nolan's film and made it too polite, without much risk.
al pacino's character, dormer, is the one we must follow throughout the film. in EVERY case in this film, i felt his character was justified in his actions. unfortunately, his actions are a source of suspense and plot revelation in the film, but with little conflict (we know who did it from the COMMERCIALS) the story needs some internal conflict or character flaw to make it more interesting. should he have done this? should he have done that? well, yes. move along. i don't understand why everything has to be tidy at the end. there is no thought process going on in a viewer's mind once the credits roll--that is all taken care of for us. any question you might ask is moot by the finale. and that's sad. anything that was sexual, mildly perverse, or disturbing was taken out of the original and sanitized to make a cleaner, more "psychological" film. nolan does nothing wrong here. he adds clever flashbacks to make an old storyline juxtapose a newer one. you'll see--it's something similar to what he did in memento, and it works again here. the guy is 31 years old, has done three films. i look forward to his next one, especially if it doesn't have major stars in it. perhaps this is merely a case of him paying his dues in a bigger film so he can make better ones in the future with his vision. rating--6 out of 10. it's not terrible, especially as a character study of pacino's dormer. it just doesn't leave you with much to think or talk about.