Create Until '23' is Reduced to a Mere Symptom

Rating: Null/10 (13 September 2010)

Many may still find it difficult to forgive Schumaker for making 'Batman and Robin' but 'The Number 23' is nowhere near as bad. Actually the first two thirds of it is excellent. It's beautifully shot and has the viewer hooked. The special effects, cinematography and lighting are first rate. The tense and dark atmosphere of the fantasy sequences and paranoia and the element of suspense completely involves the viewer. It is only in the final 20 minutes, where the conclusion is slowly revealed, that the film goes downhill. Given the lead-up one would have expected something more impactive. Not that this is the worst possible conclusion the writer could have come up with but it feels like a copout and ruins the significance of the number 23 as mere symptoms of Walter's paranoia. Jim Carrey and Virginia Madsen are amazing in their respective roles. They have great chemistry and form a very likable pair on screen. Overall, the first 80 minutes of 'The Number 23' is an absorbing thrillride and I'd suggest people to stop watching after that but given the high level of suspense, I'd probably be ignored.