Just...fine

Rating: 5/10 (15 February 2018)

There's just - just - enough to this film to keep you watching, but no more. Visually, it is interesting. In fact, the inventive mixture of comic-book, video game and live action is the film's biggest plus. I particularly appreciated the fact that there was no attempt to confine the vivacity of the world to any tedious real-world logic. It is over-the-top, it is impossible, it works. Unfortunately, the settings and the generic urban colour palettes are just a bit too blank, sapping some of the character from the scenes.
There are also a handful of good laughs, although much of the humour didn't really fly with me. I could, however, appreciate the artistry of it - it was well-written, just not to my taste.
Unfortunately, there's not much else to commend. I am not familiar with the original story, but the film's adaptation of it is paper-thin. There is so little in the way of nuance, and it feels very one-paced. The middle hour of the film made absolutely no impression on my perception of the characters, and the formula quickly became tedious and repetitive, meaning that the ending, devoid of all tension by what precedes it, was a damp squib. This is at least in part down to the emptiness of the characters. A simple story can be mightily effective with some charismatic leads, but they're just so dull. The band are soulless, the exes might as well all be the same person for all the scope they're allowed, Michael Cera sleepwalks through playing himself as usual, and Ramona is a husk of utterly conventional unconventionality. The only one who I developed any interest in was Knives.
All in all, a bit of a disappointment - an interesting experiment let down by an uninspiring story and a strange lack of spark.