Oh gods, this movie was awful. I give it a middling score as it was in certain parts visually compelling and there was nothing wrong with the acting, but it was poorly edited and paced, thought it was a lot smarter than it was, and made not a lick of sense.This seems to be a movie designed to defend itself with cries of 'it's so artistic' or 'it's not a dumb popcorn action movie', but I like slow movies, clever movies, and this was neither of those things. It's plot meanders about with cuts that make little sense, the emotion doesn't hit home, and while it is not incumbent on a movie to raise questions and then answer them (sometimes the point is there is not an answer, at least not a clear one), that's an artistic decision that needs intelligence and skill to pull off, and the movie lacked both, at least when it came to storytelling.There's enough hope at the start for something to tie it all together into something that might be decent, I was intrigued, and I'm fine with a slow pace, but what did come together in the end was a mess without emotional impact.Sorry if this all sounds harsh, perhaps despite my protestations to the contrary I am merely an uncultured barbarian who cannot appreciate the deep themes that were being aimed for...but I find it hard to credit the movie enough to think that. Self indulgent, it probably made sense in the writer's head as a character portrait set against a fantastical metaphorical backdrop, but on the screen the story was not compelling, the character's not given enough to work with to be interesting, the attempt to weave the settings together was clunky, and not enough was done to justify why this tale needed it.

This movie has the potential to be one of my favorite movies. here is why I hate it instead: The movie starts out like a fantastic, mesmerizing, amazing steam-punk/fantasy world/masterpiece and in addition there are some great, clever lines about religion that I can only highly agree with, but soon the viewer realizes, that the story takes place in the normal world instead - that's it with the great setting/the great Meanwhile City, poof and gone. Instead it is a regular garden variety crime story/drama and not just that, it turns out to be a story of immense injustice - what naive characters may consider romantic is the proof that this world is a heap of BS: that stupid Milo gets the happy ending, why? And why not David? David is not a bad man, on the contrary, and he is the one who can not be lulled (he recognizes the Theodicy dilemma (If a god is willing to prevent evil, but not able, then he is not omnipotent. If he is able, called but not willing, then he must be malevolent. If he is neither able or willing then why call him a god? Why else do bad things happen to good people?). He is just unlucky. He experiences evil / traumatic / unsettling/sickening experiences (the loss of the sister, war experiences, an annoyingly religious father - just think of: "It was God's will that our daughter died" -duh) and along with an unlucky, genetic predisposition to mental instability this makes him a condemned soul and his only way out is death, while fate brings other people a happy ending - that is pure injustice, depressing, unsatisfying, typical !! Not everyone's "life is too much of an adventure as it is without making anything else up" - blah blah, stupid chatter of lucky people, who understand nothing. -The ultimate injustice, a bullshit end - as David said it himself: "they neglect to see (...) the damage that fate causes so many in its selfish journey towards just one favorable consequence." Milo is the one favorable thing that happens and everybody else including/esp. David are the losers and have to suffer a cruel fate. Disgusting, depressing, I wish I hadn't watched it, I misjudged it, I was misguided by the nice pictures of Meanwhile city which the movie happily blasts away in the end.

In a parallel world, the dark and chaotic Meanwhile City is ruled and controlled by religious Powers That Be. The masked vigilante Jonathan Preest (Ryan Phillippe) seeks out the evil Mr. Tarrant (Bernard Hill), who has abducted the eleven year-old Sarah to force her to join the Duplex Ride sect. Preest uses the scum Wormsnakes (Stephen Walters) to find Mr. Tarrant to rescue Sarah. However he is betrayed by Wormsnakes and imprisoned along four years by the religious agents. He learns that Sarah was murdered and when he succeeds to escape from the imprisonment, he chases Mr. Tarrant to kill him and bring justice to Meanwhile City.In London, Emilia Bryant (Eva Green) is a suicidal that misses her father and despises her mother. Milo Franklyn (Sam Riley) is a young man that was left by his wife Karen and seeks comfort with his friends Dan and Laura. Milo has the sensation that he has seen his red-haired childhood sweetheart Sally (Eva Green) on the street and decides to go to his school to research Sally's address. However, he meets her at school and they schedule a date in a small restaurant. Meanwhile, Peter Esser (Bernard Hill) is seeking out his missing son David Esser (Ryan Phillippe), who is disturbed with the loss of his sister Sarah, and he meets Bill Wasnik (Stephen Walters) that gives an address to him. Peter goes to visit his son that is wanted by the police and waits for him in the same restaurant that Milo will meet Sally. The worlds of these characters are entwined with revelations about painful truths."Franklyn" is an intriguing and original movie about distorted minds protecting painful truths. The screenplay keeps the mystery until the very end and the visual concept of Meanwhile City is twisted like the mind of David Esser. Eva Green is impressively beautiful even performing a character without glamor. The beginning is hard to follow but if the viewer gives a chance, he or she will will not be disappointed. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "O Justiceiro Mascarado" ("The Masked Vigilante")

When sitting watching Franklyn for the first time the other week, the main question running through my mind was: "why wasn't this film publicised more?"For a small British Indie film, with a relatively small budget of £6million, Gerald McMorrow was able to achieve an astounding motion picture. The plot twists and turns in every direction, all the while making you think. As a big fan of the work of Richard Kelly, the logic involved around the plot line really captivated me. Even the scores created to accompany the film by Joby Talbot, captured the essence of the film perfectly and emphasised the intensity and the emotions in every scene.This is definitely a film to watch!