A pretty decent and entertaining movie. The story is engaging and so are its characters, the acting is decent to excellent (I would agree with another reviewer that Large turns in the weakest performance, but it's still not too bad, and perhaps his lack of "emoting" might even be considered "in character" [1]), and its done well technically. I found it entertaining.
One thing that seemed slightly odd, though, is that at the end of the movie it seemed as if it had intended to surprise its audience with a "plot twist". Really? I do not necessarily pride myself as someone who can figure out plot twists way in advance---I knew something fishy was going down in the Sixth Sense but did not know what it was, and I did not see the twist in the Usual Suspects coming. But this one? C'mon, pretty early on the movie essentially sticks the audience's nose in it, and throughout there are those "hints" being dropped that point like neon signs to the solution. It really felt more like the movie was letting the audience in on the truth without any of the characters knowing it, until the end---the way it was shot just made sense if the director assumed that up to that point (a large part of) the audience was essentially unaware of what was going on. Which it might have been, if it was asleep or running for popcorn when it was all laid out, didn't speak the language, or had never seen a movie before.
But even though it seems that the director slightly underestimates a modern audience, it's still an okay movie, and it remains interesting in spite of knowing the "solution"---I am not a great fan of movies whose only interest is in a gimmicky plot twist or the whodunnit anyway.
[1] I guess one could say that Meat Loaf won't in all likelihood be remembered for his performance in this movie, either---but hey, he may not be a great actor, true, but it was cool to see him on screen, and he did what he could, and two out of three ain't bad!
One thing that seemed slightly odd, though, is that at the end of the movie it seemed as if it had intended to surprise its audience with a "plot twist". Really? I do not necessarily pride myself as someone who can figure out plot twists way in advance---I knew something fishy was going down in the Sixth Sense but did not know what it was, and I did not see the twist in the Usual Suspects coming. But this one? C'mon, pretty early on the movie essentially sticks the audience's nose in it, and throughout there are those "hints" being dropped that point like neon signs to the solution. It really felt more like the movie was letting the audience in on the truth without any of the characters knowing it, until the end---the way it was shot just made sense if the director assumed that up to that point (a large part of) the audience was essentially unaware of what was going on. Which it might have been, if it was asleep or running for popcorn when it was all laid out, didn't speak the language, or had never seen a movie before.
But even though it seems that the director slightly underestimates a modern audience, it's still an okay movie, and it remains interesting in spite of knowing the "solution"---I am not a great fan of movies whose only interest is in a gimmicky plot twist or the whodunnit anyway.
[1] I guess one could say that Meat Loaf won't in all likelihood be remembered for his performance in this movie, either---but hey, he may not be a great actor, true, but it was cool to see him on screen, and he did what he could, and two out of three ain't bad!