The return of internal consistency in plotting

Rating: 7/10 (3 September 2001)

... but considering the quality of writing these days, it won't return again for awhile. This film requires the usual sci-fi suspension of disbelief but has several things going for it: the characters are actually developed in a detective-movie-noirish way, the hero and others struggle with decisions and THEN act, as opposed to JUST doing something, and most obviously the film has a color-and-costuming visual style that remains a bold statement throughout the production.
This is a film that chronicles the style of the turn of this century in the same way that "Georgy Girl" caught the London of the 1960's, and that "Laura" captured the deco-elegant look of the 1940's.