Spectacular but unsatisfying

Rating: 4/10 (1 November 2001)

No-one could fault the sheer energy and spectacle of this film and the efforts made by all to make it a success. But for me, I left vaguely unsatisfied.
I'm not a great Ewan McGregor fan - I feel he doesn't have the range of acting talent to bring any depth to a performance and Nicole, nice-looking as she is doesn't have the charisma or presence to make this work.
I felt the modern songs sat rather uneasily in this old fashioned setting, especially Roxanne performed in such an over dramatic way. When the Police did it it was effective because of its controlled understatement which brought out the real desperation and emotion in the song. Also I felt Heroes was murdered hideously.
Why couldn't they write some original songs for this production - they've spent enough on everything else. Still, I did find myself at the end wondering what would happen next so the movie was a success in that respect.