Franklyn is an upcoming British film written and directed by Gerald McMorrow. Is expected to be released on january 30 in UK, but has already been reviewed at Variety.
Franklyn follows four intertwining stories, three of which takes place in contemporary London and the fourth takes place in Meanwhile City, a parallel fantasy environment. In Meanwhile City, atheist vigilante Jonathan Preest (Phillippe) fights against the various religious presences. Ultimately, his path crosses with three others (Eva Green, Sam Riley, Bernard Hill) from London.
Sadly, although the mix between these two movies sounds too good, it seems that the film doesn’t meet expectations.
A clever idea that could have worked as a novella, the urban-fantasy-cum-sci-fier “Franklyn” doesn’t cut it by the bigscreen rulebook. Shuttling between present-day London and a totalitarian, retro-futuristic city, this first feature by Brit writer-director Gerald McMorrow leaves viewers dangling for so long that most will have checked out emotionally before the big revelation an hour in. Visually striking head-scratcher — somewhere between “Blade Runner” and “V for Vendetta” in its noirish bits — looks to have more of a future as an ambitious but failed cult item than as a contempo earner.
Ryan Phillippe as Jonathan Preest, spends 80% of time in a mask
Well, sometimes I have enjoyed films with bad reviews. For what I see, visually could be nice but let’s wait.
You car read the entire review on Franklyn over at Variety.