Incredible Surrealistic imagery, fantastic cinematography and spellbinding performances, can't compensate for an often sluggish movie.

Rating: 7/10 (12 January 2010)

The Fountain is a very well done movie, no doubt about it. The cinematography is fantastic, the performances by Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz are absolutely spellbinding, the imagery is absolutely wonderfully surreal, and the story is at times very interesting. It's just even for just over 90 minutes, the pacing is often very sluggish, which made for a very trying experience at times. You have to pay strict attention to this film, you can't miss one little detail, or your pretty much screwed. I think I got a lot of this movie anyway. They are all inter wined together, all the three stories, anyway. The most interesting one for me, had to be the one where Hugh plays the scientist. It felt the most real, and to me was by far the most heartfelt. The least effective was the one in Midevil times. The imagery near the end made my jaw drop almost literally. I have honestly never seen anything like that, in my entire life. It was beautiful, haunting, and surreal all at the same time. The Fountain is far from a failure, and there is a lot of interesting stuff on hand, but it's just too sluggish a lot of the time, for my liking.
Performances. Hugh Jackman is utterly incredible here. His multi layered performance is something for the ages. Each character he played, he poured his whole heart into. His chemistry with Rachel is what chemistry is all about. Together the two bring realism, and pure love, I was often amazed by the two. Rachel Weisz is excellent. She is charming ,vulnerable, yet strong at the same time. She has a hypnotizing face, and I often couldn't take my eyes off of her. Ellen Burstyn is very good here, per usual. She didn't have much screen time, when she did though, she added a lot of class to the part.
Bottom Line. The Fountain is a movie I was very much half and half on. I enjoyed a lot of the experience, I was floored by the imagery, and the ending was one of the strangest, yet most incredible things I have ever seen. It just is much to slow for its own good sometimes, and ultimately that's what killed it in the end for me. I do however recommend it for an evening watch, just make sure you pay strict attention, or you will be lost.