Code 46 Movie Review
01/09/2004 . Source: Mark R. Leeper 
Mark discovers that Code 46 is a very odd piece of science fiction. It is a film with some very nice material that tries some interesting ideas, but it fails to capture the viewer. Its flaws outweigh its virtues. Buy Code 46 in the USA - or Buy Code 46 in the UK  CODE
46 is a very odd piece of science fiction. It is a film with some very nice material
that tries some interesting ideas, but it fails to capture the viewer. Its flaws
outweigh its virtues. It is an extrapolation of the global community twenty years
into the future. The world is very different and the differences are often
not explained. Giant cities now seem to have the status that countries do today.
Global warming has turned most of the rest of the world into a desert. (Much was
filmed in Dubai, which stands in for Shanghai.) 
Rather
than simply carrying identification people need to identify themselves with their
insurance identification document, called a "papelle." Without a papelle you are
exiled to the desert. William (Tim Robbins) comes to Shanghai looking for someone
smuggling papelles out of a security building. To aid in his investigation
he has infected himself with an empathy virus that allows him to know everything
about a person if they will just tell him one thing about themselves. (Oddly,
some people are very surprised he has this power, though it seems to be common
knowledge other places in the society. It is one more detail not well explained.)
With his power it does not take him long to track down Maria (Samantha
Morton) who is his smuggler, but he is not sure he wants to turn her in. They
are attracted to each other. But soon they find that their lives are connected
by more than just their attraction.
The story telling is just not very
involving, unfortunately. The plot just does not go anywhere. The viewer is kept
interested in the background of this world but there is little development of
the foreground. The plot resolution seems to come out of left field just when
the writer gets tired of writing. Director Michael Winterbottom captures
a style reminiscent of both BLADERUNNER and GATTACA, but those films had more
interesting characters and action. This film is static and uninvolving. Mark
R Leeper (c) Mark R Leeper 2004 - all
rights reserved
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