style (and not even stylish style) over substance

Rating: 6/10 (7 May 2002)

After all the hype, I was a little disappointed with this flick. The characters are two-dimensional and never developed, and so the movie resorts to extremes of suffering, pain, and humiliation to elicit an emotive response from the viewer. It's kind of akin to a drunken storyteller at a bar who is always afraid of losing your attention, so he exaggerates and he lies.
There is definitely a lot eye-candy in this film, but even the "innovative cinematography" often comes off as gimmicky and pointless.
Sometimes power lies in restraint.