I actually watched this twice in the theater. First time was on a whim with my girlfriend and a friend of her's that was in town, and I knew very little going in, which is strange in and of itself for me as I tend to keep abreast with even the most obscure films.
The entire time watching I was looking over my shoulders to see if anyone else was struck by the surrealness of the film. I felt like somehow, upon entering the darkened theater, I had slipped into some alternate reality. There are SO MANY disperate elements thrown together in this film that by all rights it should be a complete disaster. It is SUCH an incredible trainwreck of a movie but I mean that in the best possible way. Throughout the movie I asking myself "How on EARTH does this film exhist!!"
Seriously, this film is a diamond it the rough. It has a warmth and heart that are hard to explain and made me forgive some of the downright BIZARRE elements. It's like some twisted gory fairy tale. At times it evokes The Matrix, and then in another scene it evokes Gone with the Wind.
And to those of you that I have to appeal to on the lowest common denominator I can sum the movie up in one sentence.
"Ninjas vs. Cowboys vs. Clowns"
It that doesn't get you in the theater, nothing will!!
Also......
Saw Black Swan last night. Incredible, and also fucking TERRIFYING! I am convinced Aronofsky is some kind of psychic vampire who has devised a way to suck people life force via celluloid. Black Swan, like all of his movies, left me emotionally exhausted. I had high expectations going in and I can say they were surpassed by wide margins. Wolverine is going to be fucking incredible!!