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An ambitious script, with the right actor to pull it off, "The Fountain" has just enough of both, along with some superb effects (which it depends upon, perhaps a bit too much). Hugh Jackman, an actor at the top of his game takes on this triple part role as a man pulled between time past, present, and some immeasurable future in a glass bubble-right out of Kurt Vonnegut's imagination, fans of "Slaughterhouse Five" might recall.

The story, although it borrows heavily from others like it, still delivers; living up to its promise with a balanced, working flow that tries hard not to become bogged down, but the necessity of the tale, the relationship of Jackman's characters and his timeless love interest (perfectly portrayed by Rachel Weisz), would collapse without establishing the connection as it exists in all three time periods. This relationship can not be effectively delivered without the dialogue and flash back sequences that tend to slow the story line.

Director Darren Aronofsky utilizes a spectacular array of visual effects that will tend to dazzle you. These fit well with the story's pace, accelerating it while the dialogue, although necessary, is somewhat repetitive in the attempt to establish a less confusing chronology of the way, exactly, these characters have come to be from three times and how each time has left them changed.

All credit to the actors and some very well-worked editing for pulling out a film worth watching.

Would I buy it? No.
Rent it? You betcha!

Running time: 96 minutes, originally rated R, but re-edited and re-rated to PG-13

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