A bit pretentious, I'm afraid, and ultimately fails to convince.

Rating: 5/10 (22 January 2010)

Some great photography here and some great effects too. But - despite some thought provoking scenes along the way (hence still 5 stars above) - overall I have to agree with the more cynical reviews on this site.
The film is undoubtedly pretentious and could so easily have been better. Having set out the time-shift connection between the Spanish conquistadors of Queen Isabela, and the contemporary / present scenes, plus the (potentially after-death and nirvana-like) future scenes, the film - both its premise and screenplay - completely fails to deliver.
I have no doubt that Darren Aronofsky had a pretty good original idea for a film here, but somewhere along the way the directness and simplicity of his story got lost. I suspect he, and the editors, where not quite sure how to end this film. The beginning of the film is a bit slow, and some patience is needed to stay with it. Unfortnately, dear film-goer, your patience is not rewarded with anything like a satisfactory outcome - this film needed an ending and didn't have one.