Fincher is still feeling his way through the merging of digital flourish within a narrative/suspense framework. There is plenty of tension/release ratcheting action, but in service of what exactly? An allegory for how hard it is to apartment hunt in NYC? Fincher finds some right notes for the isolation and dread of the city and Forest Whitaker is always worth watching. Not wholly satisfying but plenty entertaining.
Everything a sardonic 80's sci-fi satire should be, complete with main character accents that hint at future globalization within the framework of entertainment fascism. The best aspects of Bartel's Death Race 2000 (1975) and Klein's Mr. Freedom (1969) are distilled into a deeply entertaining mixture headlined by golden era Schwarzenegger and peppered by Jesse Ventura's mustache. "Mr. Reynolds, I am your court-appointed theatrical agent," has to be one of the best guffaw-inducing lines I've stumbled across from this era.
