I have to give this movie very high marks because it maintained an incredibly high level of suspense, surprise and novelty through most of its 4.4 hour (without commercials) run-time. This is very unusual for the sci-fi genre - most ideas and plots are very well-known.
I won't give anything away about the story because the unusual plot is is part of the wonderful experience you'll get from watching this movie. Suffice it to say that the story follows a detective who comes across a very unusual key to a very unusual hotel room. Admittedly, it sounds like the movie is going to be a bomb (what I thought), but it is anything but that.
Once you start watching - you'll be hard pressed to stop. The pace is excellent: something interesting is always going on - hardly a moment is wasted during the multi-hour runtime.
This movie could not have been as good without a good strong lead character. Peter Krause does a great job - he presents a well-balanced, intelligent and easy to like character. The supporting characters are pretty well done - even though some of them are a bit wacky. Everything seems to work.
One thing I really appreciated in the movie was the intelligence of its characters. There aren't any ridiculous decisions that are made to advance the plot (or remove characters). In fact, they are mostly very smart ones - so you don't feel shortchanged by the story or the filmmakers. Applaud them in this case. It really makes a story go from interesting to fascinating.
Is it perfect? I can squabble about a few things towards the end - but it doesn't matter. What matters is that I was strongly entertained for 4.4 hours and am going to watch it again.
I could go on, but you'd be better served by watching the movie. This level of film-making will appeal to all moviegoers. Strongly recommended for all.
