This thing must have looked good on paper--the only reason I can think of that Ewan MacGregor and Ashley Judd would associate themselves with it. Funny thing is, I think there might be a good movie in here somewhere. I mean, was it good at some point until some outside force--a producer or a test audience, for instance-started messing with it? The plot is incomprehensible, something producers in screening rooms tend to not like. "But we have to put SOMETHING out there for god's sake! It's got two big stars in it!" My question is, did their tinkering make the film more or less confusing?
We may never know. Having paid close attention to the film (the interesting direction and photography held my attention), however, I have been able to surmise the following: a spy code-named Eye,' (the miscast Ewan MacGregor) who's afraid of his own shadow, not to mention losing his mind since his wife left him (this same subject was covered in the far superior Zero Effect), falls in love with a beautiful killer (Ashley Judd). He's supposed to be getting her arrested but, as he keeps following her, becoming more and more obsessed, he starts protecting her. Judd's "Joanna" is a parasite. She targets well-to-do men, feeds off of them for a while, then kills them. Eye also tries to protect her victims from her, but usually fails--until she becomes a victim herself at the hands of the scary, creepy Jason Priestley (yes, THAT Jason Priestley). He saves her, only to lose her, then finds her again. This time he has the nerve to actually talk to her. But will he finally do his job and turn her in or will he become her next victim?
Before I start sounding too much like the back of a video box, let me just say that there is a lot here for those willing to pay close attention to it. Too often, though, it seems like it's trying too hard to be interesting, doing so at the expense of storytelling. It also seems self-important--as if they don't want the audience to understand. Some parts of it are just plain bad (like every one of k.d. lang's scenes).
Like I said, watch closely and you may get something out of it. Then again, no one should have to work that hard at watching a movie.
Grade: D
