Einstein once famously said, 'If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.' Nothing truer could be said about the writers of this movie as the long, drawn out explanation of the way 'dual gravity' works not only loses the viewer in less than five minutes after the title credits roll, but also shows how the writers don't understand their own physics later. For example: ever tried drinking water upside down? Well, this is exactly what the main characters do as a fad in a club. Mass has no effect in some shots, but is critical to others.
A crude ticking clock device is employed whereby matter from one world will start to burn after some time in the other. Humans are exempt from this, yet every time Adam ventures into the upper world, the effect is used as a cheap gag rather than anything substantial to drive the plot along.
The Evil Corporation's building linking the two worlds together is laughable, and instantly reminded me of 'The Fall' tunnel in 'Total Recall'. The middle level is where both gravity fields meet, but rather than being canceled out resulting in a zero gravity situation, we have the ludicrous image of a split office where the superior 'uppers' work on the ceiling and pass briefs and office supplies 'down' to their 'lower world' people.
The Evil Corporation also has this highly valuable anti-matter that floats in bottom-world but sinks in top-world. It is supposedly so valuable that it is tightly controlled to avoid the 'lower' employees stealing any. In a move totally unexplained, our hero is able to stock-pile about 80 pounds of the stuff and use it to walk around the upper city unchecked.
The editing was terrible. Nothing caused any sense of urgency or suspense. During a chase scene, the hero is edited to safety, and later once his method for entering the upper world is revealed he is just edited there.
The acting and characterization were awful. The male lead takes his style from the Shia LeBouf School of stuttering stupidity. He doesn't tell his love interest who he is for absolutely no reason other than to drag out the movie; telling her who he was before making a mission to see her would have been the logical thing. Dunst's character has amnesia (seriously?!) which may be unintentionally emphasized by the way she says her name.. every.. time. 'I'm Eden... Moore.' There was also no clear antagonist, just a poorly explained 'system' that somehow messed up the two characters' lives. Again, absolutely no suspense is created by this aspect - we can't force ourselves to care about these two fools.
The only redeeming feature was the stunning visuals. The world looked really great, but not nearly enough to raise itself out of the clichéd and derivative muck that holds this movie back. Elements borrowed from Total Recall, In Time and The Fountain ensure that it struggles to find its own definitive identity; a crappy movie made in a laboratory from the rotting and discarded parts of other crappy movies.
To conclude, both physicists and lovers of great film will be united in their screams of outrage and apoplectic spasms brought on by their utter disbelief of how this film tramples roughshod over both disciplines. Avoid this movie.
A crude ticking clock device is employed whereby matter from one world will start to burn after some time in the other. Humans are exempt from this, yet every time Adam ventures into the upper world, the effect is used as a cheap gag rather than anything substantial to drive the plot along.
The Evil Corporation's building linking the two worlds together is laughable, and instantly reminded me of 'The Fall' tunnel in 'Total Recall'. The middle level is where both gravity fields meet, but rather than being canceled out resulting in a zero gravity situation, we have the ludicrous image of a split office where the superior 'uppers' work on the ceiling and pass briefs and office supplies 'down' to their 'lower world' people.
The Evil Corporation also has this highly valuable anti-matter that floats in bottom-world but sinks in top-world. It is supposedly so valuable that it is tightly controlled to avoid the 'lower' employees stealing any. In a move totally unexplained, our hero is able to stock-pile about 80 pounds of the stuff and use it to walk around the upper city unchecked.
The editing was terrible. Nothing caused any sense of urgency or suspense. During a chase scene, the hero is edited to safety, and later once his method for entering the upper world is revealed he is just edited there.
The acting and characterization were awful. The male lead takes his style from the Shia LeBouf School of stuttering stupidity. He doesn't tell his love interest who he is for absolutely no reason other than to drag out the movie; telling her who he was before making a mission to see her would have been the logical thing. Dunst's character has amnesia (seriously?!) which may be unintentionally emphasized by the way she says her name.. every.. time. 'I'm Eden... Moore.' There was also no clear antagonist, just a poorly explained 'system' that somehow messed up the two characters' lives. Again, absolutely no suspense is created by this aspect - we can't force ourselves to care about these two fools.
The only redeeming feature was the stunning visuals. The world looked really great, but not nearly enough to raise itself out of the clichéd and derivative muck that holds this movie back. Elements borrowed from Total Recall, In Time and The Fountain ensure that it struggles to find its own definitive identity; a crappy movie made in a laboratory from the rotting and discarded parts of other crappy movies.
To conclude, both physicists and lovers of great film will be united in their screams of outrage and apoplectic spasms brought on by their utter disbelief of how this film tramples roughshod over both disciplines. Avoid this movie.