Engrossing, funny, surprising, imperfect. Caution: Spoilers!

Rating: 7/10 (19 September 2000)

Let me begin by saying I really enjoyed this movie. Excellent plot, very good acting, good dialog, a mostly consistent tone, decent direction and music. A rare combination and hard to achieve.
Only two complaints: First, Maltin makes a good point when he says that seeing the corkboard "negates" the whole movie. After this, I would have loved to see the Customs agent imagine some possible scenarios with actors exchanging roles in the events. This could be intercut with Soeze's accurate recollections, as he speeds away, of those same events. Particularly telling would be scenes of him quietly nudging the felons toward his goals, or of slipping out to a pay phone to pass news along to "Kobayashi". (What is his name, then?) The best part would be to re-enact earlier scenes in different locations with different props and different actors in the minor roles. Oh, well. We are left to wonder whether even a quarter of what has been told is true. All you really have to hang onto at the end is the ending.
But suppose we are not so skeptical, and while taking the narration with a grain of salt, we can take the flashbacks as literal truth (albeit selective recall). I assumed that on repeated viewings I would see all the evidence to support the conclusion laid out in plain sight. No. The problem then becomes how to believe that all these events could have been orchestrated short of divine or Satanic intervention. People are hard to wrangle, especially anti-social people like our gang. Well, the more plot you fabricate the more chances for holes.
I have to say this movie does indeed work like a Swiss timepiece. Just not the kind you wear. Still, it does motor along to a big finale. Soeze pops his head out and the show's over.
Very amusing and creepy, but a little heartless, as these things usually are. Reminded me of another PolyGram persecution-and-paranoia release with a big twist.
8/10