Simply Massive

Rating: 8/10 (23 May 2003)

That basically describes this whole movie. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but the movie at least attempts to be constantly spectacular or profound. I thought some parts were over-done (some of the speeches were too long, and sort of redundant) but it was interesting to see an action movie with overt references to Kant, Hegel and any number of other philosophers. This movie is a big philosophical set up for the third movie (which will have the monumental task of resolving everything in some sort of consistent way), but on its own it works as an action movie with some positively awesome scenes. I felt a certain degree of exhaustion after 10-15 straight minutes of action, but I think this movie is one you can appreciate even if you don't necessarily understand all the references or like all the action. Really quite an achievement, action movies asking philosophical questions. What will they think of next?