Steamboy (2005)

Hate to go with the obvious metaphor, but there's no other way to put it really -- the narrative engine housed within this film runs out of steam far before the finish line, leaving only a muddled climax wherein everything blows up real good. Meaning-of-science subtext is fascinating but underdeveloped; then again, so is everything else that doesn't have to do with images of machines and gears and whatnot. Visually quite impressive, but it'd be nice if it were, you know, about something.

Grade: C+