Good not Great

Rating: 6/10 (5 July 2003)

The praise of this film is overblown...without a doubt. Easy way to judge the film: play it in the proper order and see how highly rated it is. Answer: not very. Played forward the film is afairly predictable and easy to see coming. So the story itself isn't compelling. None of the characters are particulary anything other than Guy Pearce- mianly becuase Pearce's character "sees" all the other characters and doesn't know anything real about them so neither do you.
All that said, the arrangment of this film is what sets it apart and makes it not something dull and boring. Other films have used this technique but the technique does work in this case and it adds a level of interest to the film that the story itself does not wholly deserve.
BTW, most of the "talking" about the film afterwards has to do with the open questions left by the film's plot. The question isn't what happens in the film and what you missed (6th Sense or Usuaul suspects) but what happens before the story that you are never told all that muhc about. There are "supporting" materials at the offical web site that add depth to the tale and make some of the questions- well frankly not very questionable.