Refracted Input

My rating: ***
Imdb link

This film is a collection of science fiction clichés. The style is pure Matrix and the writers have gone the whole hog and recognised the long black coats of the heroes of The Matrix as priestly soutanes, calling their wearers Clerics. It is the job of the Clerics – Fahrenheit 451 style – to incinerate all artefacts of culture – books, paintings, music, pets (!) anything which can provoke an emotional response and therefore lead to wars. The voice and face of the obligatory Big Brother figure (or ‘Father’ in this case) which appears on big screens everywhere is the always excellent Sean Pertwee departing from the cliché in so far as he is a fairly young and good-looking dictator. Angus McFadyen is also a young and good-looking Vice-Counsel (acting as Regent for Father) of the clerics. Yet for all the clichés, the film works and looks great and the ‘gun kata’ fights with Christian Bale in the central role are very aesthetic.