Great story, if a bit self-conscious and gimmicky

Rating: 8/10 (27 May 2003)

This is a very fast-pace, visually stunning sci-fi noir story with some ripper effects and very tight dialog.
SPOILER WARNING
My fav scene is the night dialog in the engineering section. The conversation is straight to the point, clever, and chatty, without trying to be too precocious. And the famous freeway scene is very impressive.
What I did not like about the story were the cliffhanger ending, the all-too arty and overused slow-motion-in-the-middle-of-the-scene effects, and the less-than-subtle references to Greek mythology, Eastern mysticism and pseudo-theology/psychology. (Yeah I know a lot of geeks are really into that stuff, but it doesn't turn me on that much).
I have to say I'm very cautious about stories with an ultra-dark mystical occultish horror tone, which is why I've avoided movies like THE EXORCIST, the OMEN series, ROSEMARY'S BABY and THE SIXTH SENSE. No, I am ***not*** a complete puritanical wowser killjoy, and I've got nothing against people who are into that sort of thing. It's just my personal decision for my life, okay?
Anyway, besides my own little bug-bears this is a great story and top-class caricaturisation, especially Hugo Weaving, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Laurence Fishburn, Anthony Zerbe, and of course Keanu Reeves.