So right up front, let me acknowledge that this is a really hard one for me to talk about, because for the last five years, I have heard nothing other than how great this movie is. And not just from my friends, but like every time nerds get together to talk about movies, this is the one that everyone talks about as The Greatest Movie of The Year/Decade/(All-Time?).

And so yeah: It’s a good movie. It’s visually inventive, it’s action packed in ways that are more interesting than action scene cliches usually are, and it has something to say (though I think maybe less that it implies). On Scorsese’s cinema/amusement park divide, this one actually ends up as cinema.

I wouldn’t put it up any higher than “legit good,” though — its characters are paper-thin, its world-building nonsensical, and its plot has a fair share of handwaving in it. The movie that I want to compare it to is The Matrix, but I think that one is far more original and interesting both visually and in its story.

But I guess if you like big loud action movies a lot, and clearly people do, one that’s legit good is going to easily be your movie of the year/decade/whatever. For my part, I wish I could have gone into this without that heavy recommendation, because it would have been good to see without all the baggage of excess praise. (Of course, I never would have, so there’s your O. Henry moment of the day.)

Anyway: Good movie, and if it’s the kind of thing you like, you’ll almost certainly love it.