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  1. I very much enjoyed this movie, but I also took the time to read negative reviews of the movie, and finding myself nodding in understanding with why they *didn’t* like it.

    But let me first give my initial impressions.

    First of all, I very much liked and identified with the John Travolta character….was he perfect? No. I did find his constantly flirting and often smug and over confident attitude a tad grating, but I genuinely sympathized with the depth he was given. Of course, that changed and I felt slightly cheated when the truth was revealed, but obviously that was not the predominant feeling present, else I wouldn’t have liked the movie as much as I did.

    In fact, the shift of putting the focus on Osborne, rather than Hardy, was interesting and different…that said, when it came down to the climax, things happened fast, almost too fast. Initially, I was irritated by the sudden plot twists, one on top of the other…but I see, in retrospect, that it was the only possible way to pull off said plot, and not lose the momentum gained.

    There are those that were supremely irritated by the fact that the movie had not one but three major twists…talking about overuse of plot twists (specifically referring to how this was a poor knock off of The Usual Suspects) and the writer’s ego in regards to quoting his own dialogue during the DVD interview.

    But here’s what it comes down to: I liked the movie because I could not, and did not predict the final revelation, but once I knew the ultimate truth, everything seemed to fit so well into place. (in fact, those there are those that say the one plot twist would have been enough, I say nay, because I saw that plot twist coming a long time before). More importantly, watching the interview helped clue me into moments during the movie that hint at that final truth…in point of fact, there are many such moments, hinting at many of the later plot twists, in many different ways, that we see clearly only through hindsight. There were many red herrings, used effectively, and though the characters and the writer do take you on a ride through a lot of back alleys and false leads, it is never boring, and I never felt that left behind.

    The writer also reveals that originally, there were meant to be only two plot twists, and the reason why that changed: personally, I find the final result far more worthy.The second plot twist would have left a few too many holes unfilled, while the third one shows how and why the two investigators were given so many different stories, and why so many false motives were given center stage: it’s not that there was an airtight conspiracy as much as characters trying to out think and outfox anyone from finding out the truth…granted, all for different reasons, but, nonetheless.

    That said, there are holes that are not filled, but part of the issue, of course, is that we cannot quite be sure what Section 8’s ultimate goal was…it is hinted at, but never actually said. So there may have been reasons for what was done and how it was done, and we can only use our imaginations to full in those gaps. But for myself, what we were left with was enough.

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