Unconvincing

Rating: 4/10 (19 August 2014)

The first half of this movie is a fantasy, which gets solved in the second half by old-fashioned psychological here's-what-really-happened.
The lead looks too fresh to carry off the tragic role, and some of his delivery of the cartoonish lines is really poor (although may not be his fault). The fantasy part is half-baked with some clumsy clues, and then we get memories of the holocaust to illuminate the hero's past. Was that really necessary? I was thinking Jacob's Ladder, but I didn't like that either and it was a better movie than this.
The figuring-out part is like an '80s Hercules Poirot episode - neither scary nor emotive, just flipping over the cards as it suits the dealer. On top of his holocaust experience, the hero also had a mad homicidal wife. Bloody hell! The final flashback is awkward, and there's no effort to make us hurt for the children. The ending is ... "led off in handcuffs". Duh duh duuuuh!
Way too elaborate for a simple story.