>it's easy to go all-in on brooding or eccentric. balancing
>both is harder. doing all that from second to second, without
>pulling the viewer out of either mindset, is incredibly deft
>directing. huge credit to Bong, as live-action movies rarely
>have the kind of imagination and wonderment captured here.
>
>flaws do abound: the 10-year-old CGI, jarring discrepancies in
>acting (even for the noble Ed Harris), a weird soundtrack, and
>themes that puttered out at a shallow depth for me. but it's a
>special ride nonetheless.

I agree with all of that, however I think the "flaws" you mentioned weighed it down a little more heavily for me than they did for you.

I respect the originally and the effort, though, and a lot of the execution. It really took off for me about an hour into it once they finally got past the water purification cart.

Did anyone else think most of the "action" scenes (especially the earliest ones) were borderline poorly done? I mean, to me, they were pretty unremarkable: overly fast editing, shaky cam, quick zooms and pans, etc. It wasn't really clear to me where the fuck anyone was or who was doing what to whom.

Those scenes were weak IMO. The sauna scene and the kindergarten scenes were alone worth the ticket price, though. Overall, I'm glad I watched it and I'm glad it exists as an alternative to the rest of the bullshit that's out there in the megaplexes...