Set in the near future a nuclear-powered satellite looks set to crash into the Earth, causing mass destruction. Meanwhile in France a woman accidentally becomes an accessory to a bank robbery, leaving her on the run. She meets a man who is also on the run, this time from the CIA. Together they embark on an epic journey.
The initial plot had heaps of potential: a man and woman on the run from the law set against the possible destruction of a large, unknown part of the Earth through a nuclear explosion and fallout and how people deal with the uncertainty and finality of this. Yet writer-director Wim Wenders (Paris, Texas; Wings of Desire) tries to cram in all sorts of sub-plots and random detours resulting in a bloated, random, rambling ordeal of a movie.
The longer it goes, the worse it gets. Just when you think the film has found a direction, off it goes on a tangent. There are plenty of points where I thought 'Okay, that would be a good spot to wrap it up' but, no, on it stumbled. At one such point I looked at the timer and the movie still had an hour to go!
Decent cast but even they are weighed down by Wenders's direction. William Hurt and Max von Sydow, both superb actors, come across as amateurs here. Sam Neill is okay but his character is quite passive, and observer more than a doer, and thus not one that can be screwed up too badly. If the most talented actors in the cast are unconvincing, imagine how the minor players fare. It's all pretty hammy and amateurish.
The soundtrack is rather good though, with contributions from Elvis Costello (doing a great cover of 'Days', the Kinks song famously covered by Kirsty MacColl), Peter Gabriel, Talking Heads, Lou Reed, REM, Nick Cave, Depeche Mode, Robbie Robertson, Elvis Presley and U2.
Disappointing.
The initial plot had heaps of potential: a man and woman on the run from the law set against the possible destruction of a large, unknown part of the Earth through a nuclear explosion and fallout and how people deal with the uncertainty and finality of this. Yet writer-director Wim Wenders (Paris, Texas; Wings of Desire) tries to cram in all sorts of sub-plots and random detours resulting in a bloated, random, rambling ordeal of a movie.
The longer it goes, the worse it gets. Just when you think the film has found a direction, off it goes on a tangent. There are plenty of points where I thought 'Okay, that would be a good spot to wrap it up' but, no, on it stumbled. At one such point I looked at the timer and the movie still had an hour to go!
Decent cast but even they are weighed down by Wenders's direction. William Hurt and Max von Sydow, both superb actors, come across as amateurs here. Sam Neill is okay but his character is quite passive, and observer more than a doer, and thus not one that can be screwed up too badly. If the most talented actors in the cast are unconvincing, imagine how the minor players fare. It's all pretty hammy and amateurish.
The soundtrack is rather good though, with contributions from Elvis Costello (doing a great cover of 'Days', the Kinks song famously covered by Kirsty MacColl), Peter Gabriel, Talking Heads, Lou Reed, REM, Nick Cave, Depeche Mode, Robbie Robertson, Elvis Presley and U2.
Disappointing.