An idea movie where the idea is interesting enough to keep you watching and wondering. Wondering why Sean received top billing for such a small role, why the editor didn't tighten it up a bit, say 20 minutes or more and why i'm liking it anyway.
Survives on technique and intrigue alone but is sorely defeated by a plot stretched so far beyond the borders of plausibility, it'll make your head spin faster than a DNA tube in a laboratory centrifuge. If someone pulled that shit on me, I'd punch that person right in the face.
Every time the story moves forward there is a plot hole to be found. The story doesn't stop moving however, making it exponentially more implausible by the minute but at the same time keeping things interesting.
The one aspect of this movie that always gets overlooked is that Sean Penn makes an excellent brother to Michael Douglass. You think Tom Hanks could play his brother?
Preposterously over-the-top morality fable. Douglas did well, the twists and turns hold interest for a while, there are some amusing lines, but in addition to the fundamental absurdity of the whole thing, it is stretched out far too long, to the point that the viewer ceases to care which of the possible alternatives will turn out to be the filmmakers' preferred choice of denouement. The conclusion on which they settled is possibly the least interesting they could have chosen, and the most trite.
Fincher followed up his masterpiece Seven with this Michael Douglas/Sean Penn led thriller. Despite critical success, the film failed to gain an audience, largely due to its intensely dark mood and asinine conclusion. Fincher does a superb job bringing the script to life, but the script itself isn't worth bringing to life and ultimately leads to a hollow story that results more in patchwork guessing and eye covering than enjoyment or scares.
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