Seriously. Here you have a Michael Mann A-list movie about a very topical issue and starring two individuals (Helmsworth and Tang) with genetics so flawless they could, in theory, repopulate the globe with beautiful babies if they had to ... and the reviews are mainly dismal, and the IMDb rating about what you would expect from an indie produced in someone's basement....? What happened? They say that when a spouse is killed the first suspect the police consider is the remaining spouse.
And when a film of such potential as this one seems to land flat on its face ... the first suspect is always the script.
And there is the problem. Indeed.
The script is not merely unconventional, it would have trouble passing an inkblot test. Off the top ten minutes (great setup!) the audience is conditioned to expect one kind of movie, then a half hour later they realize they are getting yet another kind of movie, then 2/3 of the way through when most of the A-list cast gets killed in a gunfight (I did check the spoiler box!) they suddenly realize they are getting yet another kind of movie .... and in the last five minutes when the two lovers head off for parts unknown while the CIA and NSA appear to be watching .. the audience finally realizes it has no idea what it is actually getting at all.
And that, kind reader, explains the rating issue. It is not nice to mess with Mother Nature and equally not nice to present an audience with an action film they cannot understand.
Now personally (which is the whole point of being an IMDb reviewer) I liked it. But mainly for the way the story arcs scoffed at convention and constantly veered off in some strange direction or another.
But then again I like to study films as well as watch them, and most viewers may not have such flexibility.
That is the kind of mistake amateurs make. One expects more from Mann.
And when a film of such potential as this one seems to land flat on its face ... the first suspect is always the script.
And there is the problem. Indeed.
The script is not merely unconventional, it would have trouble passing an inkblot test. Off the top ten minutes (great setup!) the audience is conditioned to expect one kind of movie, then a half hour later they realize they are getting yet another kind of movie, then 2/3 of the way through when most of the A-list cast gets killed in a gunfight (I did check the spoiler box!) they suddenly realize they are getting yet another kind of movie .... and in the last five minutes when the two lovers head off for parts unknown while the CIA and NSA appear to be watching .. the audience finally realizes it has no idea what it is actually getting at all.
And that, kind reader, explains the rating issue. It is not nice to mess with Mother Nature and equally not nice to present an audience with an action film they cannot understand.
Now personally (which is the whole point of being an IMDb reviewer) I liked it. But mainly for the way the story arcs scoffed at convention and constantly veered off in some strange direction or another.
But then again I like to study films as well as watch them, and most viewers may not have such flexibility.
That is the kind of mistake amateurs make. One expects more from Mann.