Intriguing concept, mediocre film

Rating: 6/10 (2 June 2011)

I was really looking forward to this movie. It has so much potential: an intriguing and clever concept, superb actors, decent script, good direction, sensational visual effects and editing, so what happened? I can't help but feel there was a great story driven film in here at one time during development. However, somehow studio executives -- no doubt pandering to the teenage boy demographic -- just had to add in all the predictable car chases and shoot-em-up gratuitous action. In the end this action was irritatingly distracting from the very captivating storyline that I kept on wishing they would come back to - i.e what happens when one has unlimited cognitive capacity. This is the same flaw that marred Christopher Nolan's otherwise fascinating story in Inception.
Note to studios and filmmakers why can't you be bold enough to just stick with the STORY? You're squandering these great concepts. Not every film needs to be an action/adventure.