Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker is a cerebral, and perhaps pretentious, science fiction picture that examines aspects of mankind's existence (purpose, life, faith, etc
) through philosophical dialogues and cinematic metaphors. It's all quite open to interpretation and has a loose, almost indiscriminate stature about it (which could be due to the on-the-spot script rewrites and changes). Upon reflection, I do think Stalker offers some reasonably interesting themes and thought-provoking allusions but I don't know if it's anything particularly deep or new or even very significant (or at least, it never feels like it, aside from the needlessly(?) weighty presentation). A further hindrance is the film's dynamic, or lack thereof. It's a tediously long, distant, drawn-out, mostly uneventful affair. The story is compelling enough, however, and The Zone locations, made up of some decrepit building structures overrun by lush wilderness, were effectively haunting.
