It pains my heart to rate this so low, but the film is a mess. I wanted to to succeed if for no other reason than because I love the artistry behind the movie. It reminds me of a mixture of Gormenghast, City of Ember, Dark City, Caligula and a flurry of niche cult classic films with unique artistic portrayals. But, almost everything but the artistic direction went wrong with this film.
Between the plot writing, pacing (though they gave it a very good and possibly the best they could have done with how much material they tried to present), dialogue, acting (though a few notable characters like Shia LaBeouf), plot writing, etc. Understandably, the plot may have meant to be purposefully vacuous at times, as I think the movie was merely trying to present a simple thematic through an artistic lens, and the plot was almost like a necessary component the director thought would drag it down. But the message in of itself was incredibly flawed.
To summarize:
-Artistry was fantastic, though it aggravated many other elements necessary for cohesive storytelling
-It seems like a philosophically flawed film, whether you agree with the root ideologies presented or not
-I could have watched the first 10 minutes, left, and come back for the last 10 minutes, and have fundamentally understood the movie
-Fellini did a better job with his movies, which should be a wake-up-call since he is known for his porn and exposition, not his plot
-Certain parts of the film were symbolically lazy and ham-fisted, which were probably needs for plot-armor to fix the narrative that was attempted to be presented as artistic interpretation, though it fell flat given the general aesthetic of the movie