Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Siflutter It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Leofwine_draca What's FRANKLYN about? I doubt the scriptwriter even knows for sure, because this is a muddled and uninteresting would-be science fiction film that attempts to lift itself out of a genre to become a movie of real merit. It's deliberately quirky and obtuse, and annoyed me in much the same way as the similarly unappealing V FOR VENDETTA: I take an instant dislike to films that think they're better than they are.FRANKLYN tells the stories of four people who initially seem totally unconnected, although unsurprisingly it transpires that each story hooks up with the others in some way, shape or form. So far, so routine, so they decide to have one of the stories take place in a fantastic worldscape where everybody seems to have started up their own religion (probably the only interesting idea in the whole movie). In an attempt to keep viewers' attention, they also throw in some half-hearted fight scenes to keep things moving along.Frankly, I was quite embarrassed to be watching this. Eva Green, an actress I like very much, plays an utterly embarrassing role as a whacked-out art student and has to do some painfully silly (and once again pretentious) stuff. I felt quite sorry for her. While the fantastic world stuff is more fun than the mundane London scenes, the movie lacks interest, hinging too much on a plot twist that turns out to be not very good at all. None of the cast really shines: I've never been a fan of Phillippe and his performance here doesn't change that, while Bernard Hill gets almost nothing to work with. As for the overrated Sam Riley, all of his dull scenes could have been cut without making a jot of difference.Let's face it now: it takes substance to make a real movie, and a movie that's all style is never going to be successful. That's why FRANKLYN turns out to be a real bore.

rooprect If you like dark, Gothic movies with both style & intelligence, this one's for you. First-time director/writer Gerald McMorrow makes a great debut with "Franklyn", a cryptic fantasy-thriller about 4 lost souls in different times & places, bound together by a mystery that slowly unravels to a brilliant climax.The story is told in fragments, and if you're not paying attention you might easily get lost. But that's what makes it so rewarding when you start to figure it out, and you realize what these people have in common.Most of the action happens in a nightmarish, dystopian world called "Meanwhile City". These scenes are reminiscent of the haunting works of Alex Proyas ("The Crow", "Dark City") with bits of Frank Miller's comic book style ("Sin City", "The Spirit"). There are also some refreshing, humorous nods toward Terry Gilliam ("Brazil", "12 Monkeys"). But what sets this apart from those dark, shadowy films is the juxtaposition of contemporary London, bright & crisp, like something you'd see by the German master Tom Tykwer ("Run Lola Run", "Heaven", "Perfume").If you don't recognize all those names, don't worry. The point I'm making is that McMorrow's directorial debut has elements of many great directors tied together in a fresh, original way.There's not as much action in this film as in most fantasy-thrillers. Depending on how you like your movies, that's either a good thing or a bad thing. I thought it was perfect because it lets the story breathe, and it gives us the chance to digest the slowly-unravelling mystery. There are interwoven themes touching on religion, individuality, family, fate, love & hate. And psychosis, which always makes things fun.And even though it may be light on action & explosions, there's tons of nice eye candy to keep you riveted. Speaking as a hetero male, by "eye candy" I mean Eva Green and her sexy goth wardrobe! (If I weren't such a hetero guy, I'd be tempted to become a cross dresser.) The 2 leading men are quite the lookers, too, both suave & classy in their own way. And if that's not enough eye candy, you can't miss the enormous sets & wide angle shots: breathtaking.If you're a fan of any of the directors/films I mentioned above, don't hesitate to check this out.

perkypops It is hard not to feel you need your brain in overdrive after the first fifteen minutes of this film such is the constant tripping between Meanwhile City and London, but, as the characters develop, and their personal tales unfold, the film becomes strangely obsessive and compelling. The acting of the four main leads, Ryan Phillippe, Bernard Hill, Eva Green, and Sam Riley is superb throughout, lending the story a bleak feeling of reality only sporadically interrupted by the even bleaker visits to Meanwhile City. Stephen Walters also deserves a mention for his excellent portrayal of Wormsnakes.But this film isn't about being cold and bleak, it is about discovery and how even our quirkiest traits fail to stop us uncovering what needs to be exposed. Franklyn is much more than a competent piece of cinema with its twisting and turning, it asks us to revisit our many suppositions as the film unravels. And that is its main point: the journey IS worth it. And Franklyn is well worth its 7/10.

poe426 Maybe it's because I've seen one too many such movies as of late; or maybe it's because the idea has been done to death (beginning with THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI, way back in 1919); whatever the reason, I found this latest variation on this particular theme something less than compelling. Did we really need another it's-all-in-his-head cop-out- after DEFENDOR and SPECIAL, etc.? I think not. (One of the best examples of this type of story was done on an episode of HILL STREET BLUES, and featured Dennis Dugan as a would-be do-gooder with perhaps just a few screws loose.) If FRANKLYN does any one thing, it makes clear the value of good production values. Unfortunately, the "alternate reality" segments of the movie- the only parts worth seeing- are minimal. Still, the mask he wears in his "alternate reality" is cool (it looks like a cross between the Shotaro Ishinomori and Kazuhiko Shimamoto manga THE SKULL MAN and Jack Skellington from THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE Christmas and the action echoes V FOR VENDETTA). The filmmaker(s) had an opportunity to say something here (the whole religious angle could've been fully explored, for instance), but opted instead to give us more of the same. Think outside the (idiot) box, people...