ogle2354 Just too contrived. We start in the Philipines with a sort of lost in the jungle story and end up with "over the top" Chinese gangsters deep in recreational ultra violence... unrelated. I must have missed what all these bad guys had to do with anything. Could this have been two different rolls of film joined into one? Acting is wooden, accents are terrible and the poor American pretty boy looks as confused as I feel! There is some side story of a gangster trying to cure his dreadful girlfriend of heroin addiction in a lost cabin. Nothing to do with anything. The bare chested scenes are simply irrelevant and stick out like sweaty soft porn. Avoid.

smccar77 "I Come With The Rain," is a film that is hard to define. In some ways it is a redemption story, in other ways it is a reinterpretation of Christian mythology, and in yet further ways it is a study of evil. If anything, the film is ambitious in the themes that it tries to explore. As with most ambition, a degree of prudence is often needed for reaching higher quality. For example, one may wish to change the world for the better. However, trying to affect a whole planet is beyond the capabilities of most. The prudence enters in defining one's world more strictly. The wish to change the world changes into a wish and drive to change one's immediate world or community. The ambition becomes tempered by practical and manageable constraints. Unfortunately, ICWTR attempts more than it is capable of handling well. The film touches on the three interconnected themes mentioned above in a less than coherent way. By the end of the movie, one is left with the sense that valuable ideas have been brought to the table but never developed into anything that can be useful or fulfilling to the audience.The premise of a damaged detective searching for a messianic figure amidst the corruption and evils of modern life is promising. The film falters by attempting to create three interconnected and artfully ambiguous tales about the detective, messiah figure, and the personification of modern corruption and evil. One of the hallmarks of parables is that they are rather simple. The parable usually develops a story around a single moral or epistemological rule. ICWTR attempts to tell three parables in tandem. The result is not a smooth synthesis commenting on the complexities of the human condition. Rather, the film comes of as confused and lacking in relevant concrete development. To be clear, the film itself is not overly difficult to understand; the attempts of the film to convey deeper meaning are muddled and shallow. In fairness, the raising of interesting questions may have been the goal of the film. The problem is that the film does not arm the audience with any tools to continue the discussion later on. As an example, how would you respond to the following question if asked by a random stranger: "Is 'good' tainted when it is saved by 'evil?'" Hopefully this is a jarring question and one that defies immediate answer. In one sense, the question is interesting and plumbs the depths of moral/ethical thinking. In another sense, the question is too brash and off putting. Such a question almost begs for some sort of established framework to deal with it. In essence, the above question comes later in the discussion after some context and philosophical norms are established. ICWTR asks questions like this without giving the audience any real framework to deal with said questions. The film methodically, and beautifully I might add, simply presents scenarios that lead to these questions. The result is a confusing and somewhat disjointed experience. As a viewer, I know I am supposed to have been exposed to some deeply meaningful symbols and questions; yet I do not really know what to do with these symbols or where to go with these questions. In the end, one really wants to find deeper meaning in this film and unfortunately cannot.While the above may seem a harsh review, the film does offer a great many good points. The cinematography is beautiful. The scenes vary from lush tropical forests to oppressive and over developed cityscapes. The actors assembled are an international powerhouse. While Hartnett may be less than A status in America, Kimura and Lee are considered first rate stars in Asia. In this sense, the film is an international blockbuster. The acting by these stars is somewhat uneven. Of the three, Lee is the most consistent, turning in a nuanced performance that aptly captures the variegated emotions connected with his personification of modern corruption and evil. The editing and pacing are very well done and match the attempted themes. The Radiohead soundtrack adds a pleasant ethereal touch which aids in setting a more contemplative tone. In essence, the film is extremely well made, it just attempts too many messages within the story.On a personal note, I really wanted to like this film and was somewhat saddened that I was underwhelmed. I enjoy having my knowledge and interpretations of symbolism expanded. Unfortunately, this film merely referenced a great many known symbols without expanding or deepening their meaning. For this and the above reasons, I will probably not recommend this film to many. I tend to see this as a film that attempted something artistic and philosophically profound. No doubt, many people will agree and furthermore extract something from the film. Sadly, I was not able to pull any greater meaning from this movie. 6.7 stars of 10.

Cazekiel I'm compelled to write a review on this flick, seeing as it's gotten such a bad name here on IMDb. CONTAINS SERIOUS SPOILERS.If you walked into this movie to watch a psycho-thriller or get a heaping dose of crime drama, you got it in spades. But if you hadn't expected that Chinese mob activities involved serious, brutal violence, or that a serial-killer like Hasford didn't do 'improper things' with his victims and that offended you, then you need to do some reading on ANY mob-activities and EVERY serial-killer profile--without pictures, saving your delicate sensibilities.If you walked into this movie knowing that it involved a serial killer that made art out of his victim's bodies in a grotesque, terrifying manner, and that Kline's too-personal involvement over two years with the case had him go entirely mad, again, you got it in spades. But if you hadn't expected the blood (which is really quite ignorant, considering the first stills released showcased Hartnett covered from head-to-toe in blood) or couldn't see past what you'd call "OMG gratuitous nudity!" for what it really was: Kline's difficulty and outright inability to view any human form, especially women, as normal (after all, at no point does he engage sexual activity with any woman in the film, even the one he rented?)? Then you've got serious issues with that very human body. Considering the fact that there are only two scenes in which breasts are displayed, it doesn't EARN gratuity. The point of the nudity goes well beyond objectifying; the nudity, to Kline, is back at Hasford's, where he got the chance to see a bulging, unnatural sculpture made out of a pair of breasts.Defenses made aside, this movie is more a sound and light production, created to stimulate the viewer's movie-watching experience. The music goes from ethereal and hypnotizing to jarring in all appropriateness, capturing the mood from scene-to-scene. And when it comes to characters, we're not listening to stilted conversation between Affleck and J-Lo, with drab backgrounds and meaningless characters wandering in and out. Everyone has their place, from Kline's trying to redeem himself for his killing and mutilating Hasford... well, a la Hasford, to the psychotic Hasford himself, to Shitao's constant self-sacrifices to the point of serious injury in order to save others from death. Onto Meng Zi, a good friend to Kline but an easily-frustrated, ruthless cop, then Dongpo's extreme indifference to his violent ways to the point where his beloved Lili falls headfirst into them.If you're actually paying attention, it's not hard at all to follow. Each person has a story; even with the gory violence that Dongpo puts out, there are times when you feel for him. Despite Shitao's mutilated, torn-up body, as Lili tells him, he's 'beautiful'. And watching Kline's descent back into obsessive, over-detailing behavior, going so far as to make 'sculptures' out of the many police pictures documenting Shitao's injuries in a strange, maddening method of 'getting to know him' is overwhelmingly compelling. As a whole, the story is about Kline's mind and how it's trying to work everything out, his desperation to steer clear of insanity when really, he should quit the detective act and take up basket-weaving to save his sanity. Despite the "happy ending", one can hope he does just that. It's not that he's failed, it's that he's seen too much. So to assume that the film is too jumpy or confusing is to say that you didn't understand where it was coming from in the first place.There ARE, however, some confusing bits. We can assume that the woman that Meng Zi gets with is a prostitute, but it's never explicitly explained. He's appeared as a relatively with-it guy, with the usual flaws, but--a prostitute? Who is she? We never get told. The black eye he shows up with not long after his time with her, again, a WTF? While one can understand that Lili is romantically tied to Dongpo, I can say that no matter how much I love my husband, I'd be a titch peeved if he killed a close friend of mine. Instead, she goes back with him instead of shunning him--another odd occurrence.I give this movie 9 out of 10, which would've been a 10 were it not for the things listed in the above paragraph. Otherwise, it's a fantastic, stimulating film which depicts terrible monsters that are still, deep down, human. If you've seen this and didn't like it, either watch it more carefully next time or rent 'Pearl Harbor'. Though I'm sure Hartnett himself would advise you to do the former.

platothelapdog Everything about this movie screamed for me to despise it. Yet this movie is like meeting a person whose appearance is ugly, yet whose inner beauty is unseen unless given a chance to shine. Dark.... nasty work with cuts of beauty. It just flows out in both directions, this movie got a 9 out of 10 from me. Basically an ex-cop (Josh H.)named Kline who has seen and been overtaken by evil( a serial killer drives him insane over his investigation into this 24 mutilation killings then tortures Kline during a meeting,) is given the task of finding a lost son of a billionaire who turns out to be a new Christ figure, a saint. Which of these two meetings will have the most impact on Kline? Deep, slow and gory but oh so beautiful in a very disturbing way.