lost opportunity or just lost?

Rating: 2/10 (23 June 2007)

I wanted to like this movie. I really did. But it just didn't work for me.
It's been less than a week since I watched The Fountain and I can hardly remember any of it now. I recall a few very nice visuals, a handful of interesting moments, and some intriguing concepts that were introduced and then left undeveloped, squeezed out in favor of the same teary, dreary terminal illness / love story melodrama we've all seen a hundred times before.
I might have enjoyed it anyway if any of the characters were particularly likable or compelling. They weren't. The very wonderful Ellen Burstyn was wasted in an underwritten role that could have been played by anyone. My Name is Earl's goofy brother kept lurking around in the background and throwing off my concentration. Rachel Weisz, who demonstrated no acting skill other than the ability to look luminous, was nearly insufferable as the earthbound angel / saint. Wolverine seemed semi-conscious and totally confused (not that I could blame him), except when he was blissed out and tumbling through space in full lotus (impressive).
I didn't really care one way or the other what happened to anyone, who died or who didn't (it was hard to tell). The non-linear presentation of the 3 timelines / stories was frustrating and incoherent; the attempted spiritual revelations and insights were trite and fell flat.
I generally enjoy being challenged by movies that play with time, space, presentation, the rules of reality, and the conventions of storytelling, but The Fountain was so short on substance that it was almost entirely empty of meaning for me as a result. I don't anticipate ever watching it again, or even thinking about it again once this review is posted.