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Code 46 [DVD] [2003]
 
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Code 46 [DVD] [2003]

DVD ~ Tim Robbins
3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (21 customer reviews)

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Code 46 [DVD] [2003]
85% buy the item featured on this page:
Code 46 [DVD] [2003] 3.0 out of 5 stars (21)
Code 46 [2003] [DVD]
7% buy
Code 46 [2003] [DVD] 3.0 out of 5 stars (1)
£9.97
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Product details

  • Actors: Tim Robbins, Samantha Morton, Om Puri, Jeanne Balibar
  • Directors: Michael Winterbottom
  • Format: Anamorphic, PAL, Widescreen
  • Language English
  • Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: 15
  • Studio: 2 Entertain Video
  • DVD Release Date: 28 Feb 2005
  • Run Time: 90 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B0006HCSBQ
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 8,925 in DVD (See Bestsellers in DVD)

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Reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
Like Gattacadid before it, Code 46 extrapolates from the present to posit a chilling, dystopian look at our genetically regimented future. In the corporate-controlled, near-future scenario presented by prolific director Michael Winterbottom and his regular screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce, nations and languages have merged to form a polyglot society in which genetic imperfections are avoided by the strict enforcement of Code 46, which prohibits sex between people who share 100%, 50%, or even 25% matching DNA. As an insurance-fraud investigator in Shanghai to investigate the issuance of forged passports (a major offense in an overcrowded world), Tim Robbins meets his prime suspect (Samantha Morton, echoing her role in Minority Report), and their violation of Code 46 has tragic and ultimately dehumanizing repercussions. Fascinating as a "what-if" scenario, Winterbottom's film is more successful as a melancholy mood-piece than a science-fiction tale. While the plot and characters suffer from occasionally vague definition, Code 46 offers a fascinating study of human longing in an age of oppressive globalization. --Jeff Shannon

DVD Description
How do you solve a crime when the last thing you want to know is the truth?

The near future. Global warming has radically changed the climate. Cloning has become a reality. Without knowing it, people are being constructed using the same DNA. In this future, all citizens must carry identity in the form of a credit card crossed with a passport. Faking these identities is a serious crime against the state.

William (Tim Robbins) is a detective on the trail of an identity fraud. When William finds himself falling in love with his chief suspect, Maria Gonzalez (Samantha Morton) he must choose between his career or a life on the run with the woman he loves....

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Customer Reviews

21 Reviews
5 star:
 (4)
4 star:
 (4)
3 star:
 (5)
2 star:
 (3)
1 star:
 (5)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.0 out of 5 stars (21 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars "I remember you from my dream, my birthday dream", 3 Feb 2005
By M. J Leonard "MikeonAlpha" (Silver Lake, Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
Visually original and with some fine performances from Samantha Morton and Tim Robbins, Code 46 could probably be forgiven for being a cluttered, and rather confusing mishmash of ideas, themes and genres. The movie uses the cityscapes from the world as it is now, to convey a future of harshly, prohibited genetic matching, where travel is a luxury for those people living "inside," where a person's memory can be wiped in an instant, and where society is controlled by special codified passports called "papelles," which are de rigor for those individuals who want to move through the safe but administered urban zones.

William Geld (a really good Tim Robbins) is an insurance investigator who goes to Shanghai to investigate a factory where counterfeit papelles are being produced. His inquiries cast suspicion on Maria (a frantic Samantha Morton), and the two have a brief, intense affair, and eventually fall in love. In a system which potential parents are screened and unauthorized pregnancies terminated and supported by a technology of selective memory erasure, William and Maria discover that they are not permitted to cohabitate.

William and Maria have both violated code 46; a strictly policed law intended to prevent any accidental or deliberate genetically incestuous reproduction. How William and Maria navigate through these maze of restrictions, and the choices they have to make between comfort and freedom form the thematic core of the movie. It's probably much harder for them to remember their relationship than it is for them to forget it.

It takes about 30 minutes for anything to actually make any sense in this movie. Up until then, the narrative is so confusing, that most viewers will be scratching their heads in bewilderment and confusion as they try to figure out what is really going on, and where Maria is supposed to be working. This is a future world where globalization has been taken to an extreme, and where trans-national workers speak a strange hybrid of French, Spanish, Arabic and English. This is a good idea but the result is a constant sense of mystification and stupefaction that permeates and envelops the story.

However, Code 46 looks great and the decision by maverick British director, Michael Winterbottom to film on location in places like Shanghai and Dubai was a good idea, because he imbues his film with a sterile, ghostly, and often lonely ambience. The stark fluorescent affluence of ultramodern airports, subway concourses, smog-soaked skylines, and steel and chromed hotels are contrasted with impoverished outlying regions, where the poor live in shacks by vast freeways and barter their wares with wealthy tourists. Winterbottom shows us a world of great global mobility juxtaposed with extreme and acute inequality.

Morton and Robbins are an unlikely match, but they're both very good. Their steely, often reserved acting styles suitably match the sense of disparateness, isolation, and loneliness that saturates the movie. There's a sense of metallic gloom in Code 46 as both William and Maria are forced to navigate their way through a world that is probably closer and more realistic than one might think. Mike Leonard February 05.

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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Proving Winterbottoms range and versatility, 20 Nov 2004
By Stephen Newton "www.stephennewton.com" (Manchester, England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
Alienation is the common thread to so much cinema lately, with this near future pic exploring relationships complicated by genetics; too many clones. Everything here you've seen before, but the montage is so powerful it remains more than fresh. It's an accomplishment that further proves Winterbottom's incredible range and versatility. With extra marks for the soundtrack.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Evocative beautifully filmed and worth your time, 12 Oct 2005
By A Customer
This film is pure poetry from start to finish, the blend of music and film combined to give a very satisfying experience. Who said this film doesn't have a story? I got more out of this than Translation which was a little too simplistic for my taste. At least this had the threat of Government/Global beaurocracy lurking in the background at all times to give a feel to the forbidden relationship. I loved it, and if you like your films to leave an acquired taste in your mouth like that of good wine...give it a go, it won't disappoint.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Promising start but lost direction
An incomplete and inconsistant story ponderously played out.
Tim Robbins is excellent for sure but the script doesn't do him justice and the last 15 minutes of the film in... Read more
Published 19 months ago by eoinfromgalway

3.0 out of 5 stars not the sum of its parts
Like people have already said there are few new elements in this movie. In a film that portains to be dealing with the reality of genetic modification a lot of its ideas can be... Read more
Published 21 months ago by pete

3.0 out of 5 stars Mixed Bag Of Oddments
The problem with a film like this is that people tend to personalize what they get out of it to such an extent that it's hard for someone who hasn't seen it to know what they are... Read more
Published on 6 May 2007 by Doctor Goa -

3.0 out of 5 stars Could have been better
This is a beautiful film to watch. The cinematography and ambience are hypnotic - think THX1138, Bladerunner, Solaris and Lost in Translation. Read more
Published on 25 April 2007 by Majjic Mouse

5.0 out of 5 stars Exceptional and unusual
Beautiful cinematography, atmospheric sound track and perfectly understated performances from the cast combine to make this an exquisite and haunting film. Read more
Published on 30 Jan 2007 by J. Nield

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't believe the other reviewers: this is a great film for anyone with half a brain
I'm absolutely amazed by the stupidity of most of the reviews of this film. They seem to be written by brain-dead idiots expecting Code 46 to be another Minority Report. Read more
Published on 8 Aug 2006 by D. Wu

4.0 out of 5 stars A refreshing change from 'Action movies'
In an age when people seem to be fed films that simply provide them with purely escapist and superficial entertainment I found this film to be a refreshing change. Read more
Published on 8 Aug 2006 by A. Thompson

1.0 out of 5 stars Waste of a rental
Luckily I only rented this film rather than buying it but I found it to be very disappointing. I cannot believe that Tim Robbins actually got roped into starring in this film... Read more
Published on 14 May 2006 by Ms. J. E. C. Robinson

3.0 out of 5 stars The trailer's misleading,but the movie is ok
I actually hired the movie on a recommendation and watched the trailer after the movie (fortunately). Read more
Published on 16 April 2006 by H. Tayob

1.0 out of 5 stars Pointless and pretentious
The start of this film seems promising even though the cinematography is subtly tells you that it's pretentious and isn't going anywhere. Read more
Published on 11 April 2006

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