2006 ***1/2
Have I mentioned that my new roommate works in the movie theater down the street? Last night I decided to stay up late when he invited me to an after-midnight screening of the slick-looking animated thriller I was gabbing about a few weeks ago.
Well, it looked GREAT. The multi-leveled, futuristic Paris provided ample fodder for a slew of amazing images. The black-and-white city was like the main character of the movie, each scene providing a striking new look at some utopian high-tech interior, or a recognizable old-school Parisian building with huge support struts coming out of its roof, supporting the new upper levels. A particular "wow" moment was a long hold on one of the nude, female holograms that hover on the sidewalks in the red light district (they hug you and sigh as you walk through them).
The character animation was better than I thought, and its shortcomings were largely masked by the starkness of the lighting -- I was even tricked into thinking I was seeing rotoscoping a few times. This is like film noir cranked up to 11, and if these images intrigue you at all I recommend checking it out on the big screen. I'll probably go back for a second look myself.
On the down side, neither the story nor the script are all that revolutionary. I was able to forecast the couple of surprises, and while there was action, it wasn't action-packed. I'm curious to check this out in the original French, to see if the story holds up any better.
The visuals are well worth the trip. See the trailer in Quicktime here, or if that doesn't work, go here and reminisce about when we could still post YouTube movies on our blog.
1 comment:
Cool, can't wait to see this one. It looks like it can get by on its visuals merits alone.
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