Four of Them

-Some weird-ass shit goes down, and I'm not sure how to describe it without spoiling it. Take it away, IMDb!

Preest is a masked vigilante detective, searching for his nemesis on the streets of Meanwhile City, a monolithic fantasy metropolis ruthlessly governed by faith and religious fervor. Esser is a broken man, searching for his wayward son amongst the rough streets of London's homeless. Milo is a heartbroken thirty-something desperately trying to find a way back to the purity of first love. Emilia is a beautiful art student; her suicidal art projects are becoming increasingly more complex and deadly.

-It has big aspirations, sure, but is so clumsy and self-serious, like it's trying to be Donnie Darko or something.

-Ryan Phillipe growls the opening narration in what is probably a Christian Bale-Batman reference (one character says exactly this) in a mask resembling a straight jacket. As we all know, Phillipe is on permanent Serious Face (I'm getting worried my mother was right about making faces, the way this dude goes about), and here is no different, perhaps somewhat lampooning Batman and the whole vigilante subgenre. He skulks around Meanwhile City, a steampunk world alternate to modern-day London (though, curiously, he only has an English accent in the latter), where there are more religions than people (it's the law: you can worship anything, as long as you;re worshipping something) and a be-top-hatted police squad roam.

-In my limited experience of Eva Green viewing, I don't think she's ever been better than in her first scene. Tis an opinion, calm yourselfs. Sam Riley is curiously blank, though. Which is unexceptable. Bernard Hill is probably the best of the cast, I think, bringing enough emotion to an otherwise very underdeveloped character.

-What my beef was, the big twist (which wasn't even really a twist, if you were paying attention) is supposed to be a big emotional payoff, or something to that effect, but we never spend enough time with Person In Question to really be surprised, or care.

HERE THARE BE SPOILERS

-What was the point of Meanwhile City? I mean, I know it was supposed to be representative, parodic, and parallel to the real world, but it would've worked better if they had just focused on Phillipe's character, instead of going off into it's-not-about-you-it's-about-the-people-you-haven't-met-yet tangent. Each storyline depends on each other, so I can't say they all would've made lovely individual movies, but a little more focus on the tragedy that is Meanwhile City would've been nice.

-What. Was up. With the fucking janitor?

-Still. Gorgeous visuals.