Within seconds of leaving the certification screen, this film is intense.
The opening sequence is brilliant. Set against a tense soundtrack of gun shots and pleading fear, the first shots focus on extreme close ups of feet walking tentitively along a tenement block corridor; switching momentarily to a close up of the gun...
As the audience, we are given no respite from these intense camera views throughout the opening sequence. It's not until nearly the end of the film that we find out who the feet belong to; and why this opening scene is crucial to the narrative; very similar to how the storyline is engineered in Pulp Fiction.
As a storytelling device, this intense visual 'emotional lock-in' repeats throughout the film; pounding strobe lighting and intense Radiohead music; whispered chanting; rage attacks; frantic equations and violence.
That said, the acting is actually sensitive and subtle, the characters are fairly well observed and, at odd moments, surprisingly humourous.
Although I found the storyline confusing, and I wasn't entirely clear who the main protagonist was at times, this film was gripping and the editing was great.
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