flesh, takes on the appearance of
a cyborg wearing a human skin
mask stretched over its face. He
plays Bloom as though he were
an extra-terrestrial who learned
of humanity through stumbling
across self help videos. When
Bloom smiles, it’s never a natural
muscle reaction; he’s simply doing
what he thinks a human should do
at that moment. Watching his human interactions, particularly during a dinner “date” with a coerced
Nina, is car crash black comedy at
its best. Bloom’s unbridled narcissism is uncomfortable to watch,
but there’s no way you’re going to
take your eyes off him. Not since
Christian Bale’s Patrick Bateman
have we seen such a thoroughly
engaging scuzzball.
It’s never made explicit the era
Gilroy has set his film in, and some
of the technology seems contradictorily anachronistic (Paxton
boasts about owning a 2.4 megapixel camera, yet Ahmed has a Sat
Nav on his cellphone), but my best
guess is the turn of the century,
given the design of a search engine we catch frequent glimpses
of. Despite the arbitrary setting,
Advertise here for $25 - $100 call 732-280-7625
pg 47