Hmm, I was hoping for so much more from this film,because I really enjoyed Equilibrium and also think Wimmer did a great jobwriting the Thomas Crown Affair. Well this movie is pretty much a giant failure.The action is pretty cool, and well done, even with heavily CG effectssequences, it is the stuff in between that is so bad. Equilibrium had such agood cast with Christian Bale, Sean Bean, Taye Diggs, William Fichtner and AngusMacfadyen, And in this film there is no one who can act, except maybe thereturning William Fichtner, but he is barely in it, and serves a very similarrole to his in equilibrium. Milla Jovavitch looks great, but that is all shedoes. There is no emotion, and you don’t believe her emotion, she is just akilling machine, and that is it. And while the film already has a huge amount ofexposition, it doesn’t have enough for my taste, as the flat space technology isnot explained at all (except on the web site to the film) so you don’tunderstand where it came from, or why the humans don’t have it, especially whenthey have killed people with the technology on them. Also they don’t reallyexplain what is so much better about the artificially created vampires, or ifthey actually need to suck blood, or just get transfusions. too many questionsand not enough answers. And little things like her costume and hair constantlychanging hair seem to be there not for any specific reason (and no one elseseems to have the technology), but in fact is here just so that her costume canbe constantly changing color. And maybe their is more in the director’s originalcut, but as it is the scenes between action seem to drag on to incredibly longlengths, and so a longer length may not be a good thing. Also in Equilibrium wesee the oppression of the people through our lead character, who is also one ofthe biggest oppressors. Here while we are shown how and why Violet is oppressed,we don’t feel it because her emotion is only skin deep (a single tear or tearyeyes), and we never see how normal people are oppressed. This film has so muchpotential that was just wasted. Sure the production design is totally awesome,and the vision of the future is very cool (if a bit too digital, yes the wholefilm looks like a giant video game, and why do humans in white not bleed whenkilled with a sword?), but it doesn’t make up for the lack of emotion in thelead actor.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…

The beautiful (if only thatwasn’t her only talent) Milla Jovavich plays Violet in this distopian futurewhere mankind has created a super virus in an attempt to make ultimate soldiers,but they just made the virus more virulent, and a lab technician was exposed andexposed the world to it. It is a blood virus that makes a person into anultimate soldier but cuts their life span to 12 years as it is a virus (thoughof course I only know this from the web site, as it isn’t well enough explainedin the film). The people were experimented on and put into centers, where theydisappeared, and only a few are left, who work in a resistance to the governmentwith the help of technology created by Garth (William Fichtner) who has createda device to change gravity, and flat space technology to pull swords, guns andammunition out of flat space and into reality via thought commands (again I onlyknow that Garth was the creator of all of this because of the web site), andeven though the human’s have killed many of the “vampire”( also known ashemophages ) don’t seem to have the technology. So the leader of the governmentDaxus (Nick Chinlund) has had a super weapon created to destroy all theHemophages at once, but Violet using technology from Garth managers to full allthe sensors and take possession of the weapon and fight her way out. Before shehands the weapon over to another Hemophage she checks it out and sees that is achild (6 played by Cameron Bright), and she tricks her contact and keeps 6 andgoes on the run, going to Garth, who studies the kid and finds out that in fact6 is not a weapon against Hemophages, but has a homing beacon in him, and also apowerful protein virus that will kill him in 8 hours, but before he leaves thekid writes down an old style chemical formula that perplexes Garth. Violet takes6 to abandon him, but ends up not doing it, and running from Daxus who tells herit is his son. Daxus makes a deal with Violets contact ,who takes the kid, butshe kills him and all his minions to save 6. Eventually she wants to take onDaxus, but can’t and she waits with 6 till he is about to die, and cries on him,before he dies, then Daxus shoots her and leaves her to a fire team to mop up,but the fire team is Garth and he manages to save her after 4 hours of surgerybecause he loves her. And she decides to go after the dead 6 and Daxus. Shetakes on the entire ministry and kills them all, until she sprays Daxus with herblood, but it turns out he was the technician and was already infected, and hasbetter powers than her, being able to see in the dark. His plan was in fact touse 6 to infect humans, so that they would have to go to him every day for ananti-virus since Hemophages are almost extinct and he wanted total control. Evenmore amazing, is that Daxus has the same flat space sword as the otherhemophages, though from the web site I gather this was built by Garth, unless hehad his scientists make it for him, but not for his soldiers or anyone else, orhe took one of the of the dead people’s sword? I don’t know, doesn’t reallymatter I guess. Anyway, Violet uses the oil he sprayed at her on her sword andlights it and they fight with flaming swords, till she kills him, and saves 6,who is waking up because she infected him with her hemophage virus, and he tellsher that the chemical compound he had is a cure for hemophage, though she isdieing, but it is left open to her being alive, but I doubt this film will dowell enough to warrant a sequel.

I havesaid most everything in the opening. Visually great, with an interesting idea,but not well enough implemented oracted.

I do love the fight scene withthe Chinese where she uses her skills to make the men in a ring around her shooteach other instead of her, much like the hun kata in Equilibrium but taken to anew level. Very cool, but it doesn’t make up for this total let down of afilm.

I have heard rumors thatthe film was completely taken away from Kurt Wimmer, which is why the film hasso many holes and seems to damn disjointed. And that also explains his totallack of participation on the DVD release. it’s too bad, as I would like to seehis original vision.