denis888 Rarely are there movies so blatantly poor, weak, so openly disgusting, so terribly sickening, so awfully designed and so shabbily executed. I watched this pile of gross dross in utter disbelief asking myself, really, is that it. Is this some sort of a well-known filmmaker who managed to bake this raw, abominable deviation, which is at once sick, vomiting, ugly, shabby, shallow, silly, bland and vapid. Jennifer Jason Leigh seems to be totally bored and she rarely raises above a jaw-breaking yawning fest, while Jude Law is just a boring dude with no merit. Ian Holm is merely a joke here, while Willem Defoe astonishes with his shoddy poor performance. Seems like the crew wanted to create the most anti-aesthetic, anti- tasteful, anti-beautiful film and my, did they manage. All those killing scenes are so livid and dull that a feeling of throwing up evokes promptly. My advice for all of you - run away from this dross and shame. The moral is lost in unnecessary violence and the message is so hid that nobody even dares (or cares) to find it.

robotovictor (it may content spoilers) I expected much after saw the ratings and the cast but it turned out that this one essentially marked the end of the scriptwriters era while the post-matrix effects era hasn't yet started. Had at least the latter started it would save the film partially at least luring into it the die-hard sci-fi fans who don't care about any script.The thing is here we have gradually growing expectation for something big to pop up to grab the big picture... only it turns out there is certainly nothing big about it, except for the greasy playing devices looking like baby aliens. Yes, they are big time in the movie, perhaps half of it. The thing is the famous director drove some big actors in the field and focus solely on super close camera view to the characters, remember no real effects, only the good old sleazy creatures form 'The Thing'... This Focus along with much more measured characters is integral part of most of the parodies. But Existenz is not that. Nothing like 'Edward The Scissor Hands' or the Terry Gilliam staff. I tried to view it as that when i kept stopping and starting it time and times again only to discover more and more fine actors like William Defoe and Ian Holm playing small parts superbly realizing they did so only because of the short period of time in that smaller-than-it's-cast-movie. Contrary to their and leader female character's (Lee) ecstatic approach, Jude Law really managed to immerse in the whole story and look realistic. He did that by giving an outstandingly confused meta-hero performance even for his stonecold-blooded standards thanks of course to the real actor's confusion with that script. The Brit actually earned the rate of 2 i gave to that poor movie i couldn't finish after several attempts.

Chris Merrick The idea of this movie and the way it was put together to take the audience on a inception like ride was amazing, although it has a couple of things that could have made it much better.To start off, the thing about this movie that really brought it down in my eyes was the acting, and line delivery. The acting was sub- par, it wasn't not bad, but it definitely was not good. Some bits just felt really fake and unbelievable, a lot of the actors reactions to situations, especially in the last scenes, just felt very unreal, as if they weren't really trying, and the director wasn't being firm enough with the actors about how he wanted them to be.The second point was the script, some parts of it just seemed really strange, or unnecessary. The sexual-tension between the two characters made the movie feel comedic and silly at some points. Obviously having two attractive young main characters, there is going to be sexual tension, but the way it played out seemed unrealistic. I think the director did intend for some parts to be comedic, but it really distracted me from what I think the director made me want to feel.The last point is the game devices, it was just plain weird. I don't understand why the director couldn't have made it an electronic device. It was another one of those things that just made it feel strange, strange can be good, but this was just an unnecessary strange.Now for the good parts. This movie really makes you think, and it grabs you from the start. It makes you question how real is this reality we are living in, could it just be a game? Are we just actors in a simulation, playing our role for this lifetime? When a director can make an audience think things life this, I love it.The way the movie takes you through the whole story is really interesting, it takes random turns, it confuses you, makes you wonder what the hell is going, on. But in the end, it all comes together.Honestly, it's hard for me to say much more without spoiling anything. I highly recommend this to anyone into existential themes in movies. Try to ignore the flaws, and let the movie take you on it's journey.

fuktlogik If you are to enjoy this movie you must first throw all criticism out the window. Complete and utter suspension of disbelief is a prerequisite.You must not wonder why a gun made of bone that fires square teeth out a round hole without any form of propellant makes a bang, or how people with an open dime sized hole leading directly into their spine don't succumb to infection or spinal fluid loss. Nor why the lead developer/creator has no idea what her 45 million dollar game is about and only has a single copy on a device that can be corrupted simply by using it on a person who is slightly nervous.These are not inevitable problems in film making like entry wounds looking like exit wounds. This is just bad writing. And before you cry "But the ending makes all your points moot because it was all just a game!", no, no it does not. Even taking into account the fact that all but the last 5 minutes took place in a game within a game doesn't negate the fact that any semblance of a coherent plot must have remained in the soiled depths of Cronenberg's mind. Even assuming all these mistakes were foreshadowing doesn't excuse it.I remember enjoying this film when it released, but I must have been extremely high not to pick it apart scene by sloppy scene.