The typical Gilliam quirkiness cannot save this film. It raises so many questions, answers a few, but none of it propels the movie forward. What is this world Qohen lives in? It looks like a futuristic London England, but why is it that way. Or this employer he works for, and his significance in this futuristic world?
Characters come and go, and while they announce themselves leaving, its almost like they were shoehorned in, just to give us some variety, and a few cameos (like Tilda Swinton).
Christophe Waltz is a good actor, but I think he was miscast as the lead for this one. His character isn't likeable and I really don't get any sense that I should care about his plight. I don't know if that's Waltz's fault, or the fault of the writing/direction. There's a lot of filler, by repeating the same images over and over again. How many times do we need to see Qohen looking at the splash screen to Bainsley's webpage? I mean, we get it, the 'Enter' sign is over her crotch.
I stuck with this one, thinking there will be some payoff and it will mean something in the end, but it doesn't.
And that's the worst part of the film - the ending. It felt like Gilliam was running out of places to take this movie, so he just felt he had enough footage and tagged on a predictable ending (at least in Gilliam's filmography, we've seen that before).
I can see why this film didn't get any exposure when it was released. I don't even think it was shown in the theaters in my area. Probably a good thing.
Characters come and go, and while they announce themselves leaving, its almost like they were shoehorned in, just to give us some variety, and a few cameos (like Tilda Swinton).
Christophe Waltz is a good actor, but I think he was miscast as the lead for this one. His character isn't likeable and I really don't get any sense that I should care about his plight. I don't know if that's Waltz's fault, or the fault of the writing/direction. There's a lot of filler, by repeating the same images over and over again. How many times do we need to see Qohen looking at the splash screen to Bainsley's webpage? I mean, we get it, the 'Enter' sign is over her crotch.
I stuck with this one, thinking there will be some payoff and it will mean something in the end, but it doesn't.
And that's the worst part of the film - the ending. It felt like Gilliam was running out of places to take this movie, so he just felt he had enough footage and tagged on a predictable ending (at least in Gilliam's filmography, we've seen that before).
I can see why this film didn't get any exposure when it was released. I don't even think it was shown in the theaters in my area. Probably a good thing.