Done Before

Rating: 5/10 (29 October 2004)

The main reason to see this movie is because of the marvelous performance turned in by Christian Bale, who is bound to become one of the most sought after actors over the next few years. The movie explores the strange reality of the title character who suffers from delusions at his place of work and during his encounters with hooker Jennifer Jason Leigh. He keeps having visions and trance-like conversations with "Ivan," a mysterious character who reminds me of a white Morpheus.
Although Bale ie excellent, the movie is obviously heavily influenced by "Memento," which in my opinion was better scripted, and kept the viewer in more suspense. Because this movie is shot so gloomily, the suspense angle is lost in the contrived "dark" atmosphere, and I found myself not shocked or even interested in the supposed "surprise ending." This would have been better had it come out before Memento, but unfortunately, this movie copies too closely plots of movies that were done more effectively in the past.