With a few of the cast being in Nolan's previous work, everyone is expecting another beautifully shot ideas driven story.
I like many, have given this movie a lot of hype. But I think after seeing it, I must remind myself is that this is first attempt at directing. When I heard this was getting a lot of hate from the critics, I was quite surprised.
For me, there was nothing wrong with it. I agree it was disappointing, but I still felt entertained and interested throughout.
Firstly, there is great ideas in this. They may be nothing original, but it is an idea you would expect from a person who has been involved with Christopher Nolan. It also as beautifully shot as you would expect from someone like Pfister.
But sadly, unlike Nolan, those ideas were only touched upon and were not delved into. There was also a lot of missed character development, especially in the first half of the film.
The second half felt a lot more complete and the ending was quite fitting. In my opinion, that was the only thing wrong with it. But despite that, I think the lack of going into its ideas made the film have a mini TV-series feel to it, which is not necessarily a bad thing.
Some of those negatives are quite big ones. But as I thought it through, I took it for what it was and found to be a solid attempt. It had me remembering how I felt when I saw Oblivion (click here for a review) last year. It looked clean and crisp, had a good idea to work with but never really fully realised.
The performances were not anything spectacular but they did their job. Johnny Depp made it look effortless,
Rebecca Hall did what she is best known for. Morgan Freeman and Cillian Murphy could have done their respective performances in their sleep. It was really nice to see Paul Bettany back in a big blockbuster that is actually good. One nice performance that I would like to mention was from Kate Mara. She had an on-screen presence that has a lot of potential and that makes me more interested for her appearance as The Invisible Woman in the Fantastic Four reboot next year.
Other things to mention was the soundtrack by Mychael Danna. At times it was your conventional sci-fi action thriller which had a Hans Zimmer feel to it. Then there were some clever uses of the sounds of a computer which definitely kept the theme of the film. The visual effects were great and with the beautiful cinematography, the visual effect just enhanced everything.
After high expectations and hearing bad reviews, I felt it was an all-round solid sci-fi . Yes, it could have gone into its ideas a lot more, instead of just skimming the surface. But I think we should give sympathy to Pfister. It cannot be easy being a director for the first time, and after seeing Transcendence, I think we can be excited for his next offering.
Some people may say, Pfister is just a copy of Nolan. There is Nolan in this, but the subtle flow of the film gave it that Pfister touch. Also, for anyone who has never seen a Christopher Nolan, then I think seeing this could be a nice kick-start to the complexities of Nolan.
Rating: 7/10
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