Pretty, but shallow and careless

Rating: 4/10 (4 June 2006)

This is a director mesmerized by his own brilliance. He has abandoned any pretense of conventional story-telling to create "mystery" (read: confusion) and "meaning" (read: pretension). There are scenes here that are purely symbolic but add nothing to the story. There are other scenes that just seem to float in space.
I hated the interior monologues which were meant to give the story depth, yet did nothing to reveal the true character of John Smith, who ended up as much an enigma as he started. (Credit Colin Farrell with another brooding, shallow performance - his specialty.)
Worth a look, I suppose, but overly long, uninvolving and ultimately self-indulgent .