I often find there to be two kinds of movie watchers; those that see the bad and judge based on it, or those that see the good and enjoy it. If you are the former, do not watch this movie. If, however, you like a less than glowing movie for being more than 'enjoyably bad', keep reading.
This movie is NOT 'enjoyably bad', but rather shows a growth in film production skill significant enough to surpass enjoyably bad movies in quality (not enjoyability). That is ironically this movie's downfall. While the unique story and setting may draw some critical fire, they are well done if you are willing to accept a slightly unusual post- apocalyptic stage for the story. So too is the movie's music and cinematography (its highest point). Acting, however, is flat and in a movie that visibly takes itself seriously, it makes for a notable distraction. The problem is that the acting is ALMOST passable, meaning that instead of laughing at a poorly delivered line and enjoying it for the laughs you get, you will instead just mind yourself annoyed at what could almost have been a solidly good film. The script also could have been much sharper, making the already stilted acting even stiffer.
Pacing is slower than one might expect from the way the movie presents itself. For what looks to be a low budget action movie, there are remarkably few action scenes, and shots linger long enough that story feels slowed to a crawl at times. What this looses in classical attention grabbing it gains in artistic value and atmosphere (due largely to the previously mentioned gorgeous cinematography of the film). This lingering camera trades out for an odd combination of long fixed shots and short hand-held close ups during action sequences. This makes for an interesting blend that feels strange at first, but by the movie's final fight scene beautifully ties everything together into a final, brilliantly shot finale.
It's hard to know what to expect from this movie. Even in classifying its genre, it tackles so much that its hard to place. It is a futuristic/modern post-apocalypse woven with elements of kung-fu, western, and film noir mystery style aspects and an oddly atmospheric meandering storyline that pretty much guarantees that this movie is NOT what you are expecting. So my final bit of advice; go in without expectations. Let this movie be what it is and try not to judge it for anything else. If acting is a major issue to you, I may recommend you skip out on this one, but if mediocre scripting and delivery won't get in the way of a decent and unusual story, good musical score, and beautiful camera-work, this movie may be worth your time.
