In a generic, rain-slicked city, cyberpunky things are afoot. I think. Honestly it’s hard to tell. Ryan Kwanten plays our hero, or at least I assume that’s what he is, likes to monologue to himself as he goes about his days as a sort of street hustler and part-time assassin, and spends his nights in some kind of karaoke bar. Is it a karaoke bar? There don’t seem to be any other patrons, and he mostly just watches the same woman/cyborg (Jillian Nguyen), who sometimes starts going off on her own internal monologue! It’s a bloody nightmare, and that’s before Hugo Weaving, in the fourth-best cyberpunk film he’s ever done, comes in with his own one too. Christ, is this whole city just monologuing to itself, non-stop? It’s like what they say about everyone thinking they’re the main character of their own story.
Have you ever seen Blade Runner? Writer/director Ivan Sen has, but for some reason he seems to think you haven’t. He doesn’t even think you’ve seen that flashy Denis Villeneuve sequel from a few years back. Personally, I didn’t like that sequel at all, but I’d gladly see all 160+ minutes of it three more times before sitting through Expired‘s hundred minutes again.
It’s a shame, though. It’s certainly a pretty-looking, if visually derivative, film, and it has some pretty strong performances. Hugo Weaving has to be one of the most talented actors alive today, and Jillian Nguyen, I hope, can get cast elsewhere on the basis of her showing here.
★☆☆☆☆