zmail-77704

I love the idea of alternate worlds, running in parallel as they do here. And the idea of a building that allows you to move between them is both novel and entertaining.

But what spoils this is the reaction of the characters. Take the opening (and I'm not about to reveal a 'spoiler' here, so don't worry). If it was me, or you or anyone else and you've suddenly discovered that you've been plunged into an alternate reality, what would your first reaction be? Total and utter disbelief, I'm sure. You'd think you were in a dream or going crazy or hallucinating under some drugs that had been given to you or something along those lines. But, instead, the 'Harold' character (who, to my mind, is hardly believable as a real person anyway) just comes out with it 'Oh, it's a parallel universe' as though of course it must be because how could it be anything else.

And if, for some inexplicable reason, he might have worked this out in a logical fashion (and yet he's the least logical of all of them), why do the others go along with him so readily? There's just too quick an acceptance of where they are and how it all works to be interesting.

Also there's not enough development of the characters in the first place. Who are they? How do they fit together? Why do they care about their dad so much? As it is I didn't care enough to want to know.

This is typical TV for those with short attention spans - glib explanations of the 'sci-fi' in order to move the story along quickly without anyone taking care to develop the background to the characters, the story or the science fiction behind it.

But, hang on, this is a movie, not a TV series, so you have a captive audience, so don't treat it like TV, please. It's too late, now, and if this was a pilot for a TV series it has failed to generate a sequel. Disappointing all round for what could have been, but wasn't.

The premise of this story is very promising - a thriller based on the concept of an apparent twin who turns out not to be all he, at first, thinks he is.

At the risk of not wanting to spoil the movie, I won't say more about how things turn round, but the focus is always on the lead actor, Conal Byrne, who has to play William and William Zero and another allied character with enough distinction between the three that you can keep up with exactly which one he is meant to be.

Thankfully Conal is up to the task and switches characters enough to be identifiably 'different' until the last chapter of the movie when the distinctions deliberately become blurred. As William Zero he has to appear practically clueless as to what is happening to him in the beginning and he almost pulls this off.

Unfortunately the script advances too quickly for us to get a real feeling for the dilemma in which he finds himself and the progression, from what seems to be amnesia to the dawning of understanding exactly what he is, happens abruptly and without enough reaction to be credible.

Similarly the reactions of the other characters in this story are also hurried and, therefore, appear unrealistic. Amy Seimetz, as the (ex) wife, does her best but isn't given enough dialog to carry through her predicament. In the end her conversion to the version of reality that she sees is too sudden and hardly seems in character.

Overall I felt the screenplay was generally too predictable at times, whilst leaving a lot of questions unanswered at others (presumably to try and engender a feeling of mystery). There are twists and turns in the plot which, with better direction or a superior screenplay, could have been more entertaining, even shocking.

The denouement is laughably simple (and requires another improbable leap of faith) and turns out to be what you might have been expecting all along. Of course there's no other outcome that could happen, but to give so many clues along the way, I felt, was unnecessary and leaves a limp ending.

I'm left wondering how many scenes were heavily cut and are left littering the cutting room floor? The progression of the story feels heavily edited and this is the sort of movie where a typical preview of a more twisted, mysterious version might have elicited comments of 'I didn't understand it', forcing a different direction before the launch.

This should have been a movie which throws up more questions, especially moral ones, than there are answers but, in that respect, it fails. On the thriller side it also doesn't score as highly as it could have done. At the end I was just left feeling that this could have been so much better.

This movie really should be better known as it contains some absolutely brilliant acting and direction with a story that unfolds in a very twisted way that is oddly captivating.

From the very beginning you'll be rather mystified as to what is going on but you'll gradually get a glimmer of understanding as each time shifted scene unfolds. There's one thread that holds out right until the end and it's this that will keep you glued to the screen.

Even so this movie doesn't take itself too seriously, wrapping up the twists and turns with a tongue-in-cheek poke at the 'detective thriller' that is lightly amusing and made me laugh at the ending.

A thoroughly enjoyable caper that deserves better recognition than it currently seems to have. More like this please.