Where's the payoff?

Rating: 3/10 (28 September 2009)

Though expertly filmed - great cinematography especially - directed and all around solid on the acting side (Cage seems to me to be playing to the middle in every movie he's in generally; "Matchstick Men" and "Adaptation" are notable recent departures for his rather flat acting style), and a storyline that holds tremendous promise, the third act is nothing short of a total rip-off.
Filmed and paced quite suspensefully in the first and second acts, this is the kind of movie that, like an M. Night movie when he was still a decent auteur, virtually demands a big payoff to all the expertly styled and paced build-up. Needless to say, it fails utterly to deliver.
Though I've announced there is a spoiler, I will try not to give too much away. Suffice it to say Cage's character is ringside at the end of the world. His purpose seems ultimately to be used to bring together certain people at a certain place at this set end-time of the world and then ride off into the sunset/destruction of the earth.
If it feels, tastes, and smells flimsy - well, it IS flimsy. The justification for all the brewing suspense seems comic and ultimately a total let-down. When the end credits rolled my wife and I looked at each other and we both went "OH COME ON!" If that's not exactly how you feel after watching this turkey, I'll be very surprised.