Now on to what sucked about it.  First and foremost… the acting was atrocious.  Milla was her usual self, spot on based on what the director gives her to work with.  If there’s anything that could have saved this movie, it was her.  The scenes that were supposed to carry some serious emotional weight, were they standing on their own and not surrounded by the rest of the garbage script, worked.  But the context in which they were placed into the movie simply made them ridiculous, impossible to swallow as being real, and downright painful to watch.  Nick Chinlund as the devious head bad guy Daxus chewed, I mean positively chewed, the scenery like he knew how awful the movie would turn out and simply loved the fact that you were watching it.  If he took one line he delivered seriously then I’m a monkey’s uncle.  Every delightfully evil smile he flashed at the camera seemed to be saying “See?  You fell for it, dipshit.  We got your eight bucks.”  Not to mention he spent the entire movie with some breathing filter hanging out of his beak that was never explained and was seen adorning not a single other characters nose.  I’m all for cool props and crazy sci-fi futuristic equipment, but that thing was just plain stupid looking.

I also must take issue with the plot and the way in which it was presented.  Character motivations were entirely non-existent here.  Not once do we get a clear idea of what everyone is really running around for, and more importantly why are they doing it.  Violet is some type of courier/soldier for some underground “hemophage” class of humans.  Who incidentally have vampire teeth and we’re led to believe might drink blood, although all this is purely speculation, as this represents yet another plot point that is left dangling in the breeze.  Near the beginning of the movie, Violet narrates about how she hates humans now that she’s been infected with what is apparently the hemophage virus.  Then she throws her entire resistance based life (against a fascist medical regime of all things) into turmoil for one human boy.  Then she threatens him.  Then she feels bad for him and tries to bond with him.  Then she leaves him to die.  Then she risks her life for him.  Are you picking up what I’m putting down here?  What the hell were the motivations?!?  Damn you, Wimmer – for thinking anyone might understand what was flashing through your drugged-out head when you wrote this.

The fight scenes also sucked royally.  Let me sum them all up for you.  Violet stands there looking pissed.  Anywhere from seven to twelve baddies surround her.  The camera starts flailing around wildly and bombards you with a few flashy special effects.  The bad guys all die.  Violet strikes a dance pose with her arms out in the center of a pile of dead people.  No… really.  Every single fight ends with her standing in some odd contorted dance position with her arms out holding weapons pointing at her victims or the walls or something.  Then her outfit and hair changes colors.  “Ooooh… neat.  Say, them some fancy effects ya go there Wimmer.  You from… Hollywood or sumthin?”  Give me a break.  Is today’s sci-fi audience not more sophisticated than this?  The scenes look like they were choreographed by a dance instructor rather than a proper action stunt coordinator.  Pitiful.  Milla, Milla… my poor Milla… who did this to you?  In the age of movies the likes of The Matrix and Kill Bill, there simply is no excuse for such piss poor presentation of violence.  There wasn’t even any gratuitous gore to make it mildly tolerable.

I remember a point near the end when the absurd and impossible to follow plot take an absolutely ridiculous turn for the worse, and Violet is given what we’re led to think is a fatal wound.  Of course… any movie goers worth a whit knows you’re not going to end a flick like this with the bad guys winning and the heroine dead on the ground.  Just another way this movie insults your intelligence.  She’s revived by an oddly werewolf looking William Fichtner, when she confronts him with the question: “Why Garth?  Why?”  (Apparently she wanted to die.  Then she wanted to live suddenly.  Yeah…) this is probably the only time I was in complete agreement with what was taking place on the screen.  Why, Kurt?  Why continue this over-budgeted excuse for a movie?  Let her die, end the story as quick as possible, change your name, and never make another science fiction movie as long as you live.  In fact, never make another movie.  Displays like this are why the genre has a bad rap from ‘serious’ filmmakers in general.  To anyone planning on seeing this: save your eight dollars and instead send it to Wimmer.  He’s going to need it because it highly doubtful he’ll work in Hollywood again after this atrocity.  Best case scenario, we can bribe him to never stand behind the camera again.

This movie receives the lowest rating on my six word scale: Retarded.