David Bertoni

Awful directing, filmed like a bad and frenetic commercial for male health supplements. Predictable and silly writing. Mediocre acting. But, Liam Neeson doing crazy violent stuff is worth an extra star.

Ignore the mainstream reviewers on this one. Even ones you might ordinarily trust. This is a poetic, multilayered film in which the storyteller's subconscious was obviously in control. In fact, if you asked the director what the movie is "about," there's a good chance he'd describe something very superficial about the world being a simulation (yep, that's what he does -- perhaps he's being cute), but this film said something very, very different to me. As broken, self-aware beings in an untenable world, we often find ourselves searching for bliss in all the wrong places, with consequences that are often devastating for us and those who love us.

Interesting idea, but poorly executed. From muddy to preachy to nonsensical, it seems the storytellers and the director bit off more than they could chew stretching an interesting kernel of an idea into a dark, mannered, and ultimately boring film.