A variation on Dostojewsky's "crime and punishment"

Rating: 9/10 (19 February 2006)

This movie risks a lot. The sanity of its main actor (Christian "Zombie" Bale), the approach to create a killer without a actual killing. A perfect "conspiracy" without betrayers. The comparisons with Finchers "Fight Club", Nolans "Memento" and "Identity" are obvious, but whereas the first one deals with brutality, the second with memory and the third with schizophrenia, this one is more about the inner torments of its main character. The twist (and solution) towards the end is not weaker than that of the ones mentioned above, but its clearly not the intention of the director or the writer to show the audience how clever they are and how blind we were. The movie ends not with the shocking twist, but has a convincing epilogue. The colors, the atmosphere, the actors, the rhythm of this film are wonderful. Dostojevskys Book is shown in a short sequence, and that is mainly the only clue you will get, just how that might end. A "9" at first sight and maybe a "10" on second.