Franklyn is a British science fiction film directed by Gerald McMorrow. Ryan Phillippe is the masked vigilante Jonathan Preest, who is searching for a kidnapped girl in the religious Meanwhile City. The story shifts through alternate realities, when it’s not in Meanwhile City, it seems to be in modern-day London. The movie also shifts to other character’s stories, such as Emilia (Eva Green), a suicidal woman who people-watches for a living, Milo (Sam Riley), a young man hoping to find true love, and Peter (Bernard Hill), a father searching for his missing son.
The film is at its best when it follows the story of Jonathan Preest, who is the glue that holds this movie together. He reminds me in many ways of superheroes like Batman and Rorschach except they put a new twist on the concept of a vigilante where the real villain is religion. The idea that grabbed my idea the most was that in Meanwhile City there was every religion, “you could base a religion on washing-machine instructions”, and Jonathan Preest was an atheist, the only atheist, because in Meanwhile City having religion is the law.
The problem with this film is very similar to the problem with Quentin Tarentino’s “Inglorious Basterds”. Once you see the Basterds you don’t want to waste your time with the other characters, just like when you get into Preest’s story you don’t want to worry about the others. The characters are harder to connect because of how different the settings are, Meanwhile City is dark and strange and then you cut back to normal and it kind of takes you out of it.
McMorrow had a chance to actually make a very new and interesting superhero film but went a different direction and chose to explore the psychological perspective of these characters. I would have preferred the alternative but the movie still had a lot of great things about it, but the ending was still a little disappointing. This is definitely worth checking out just for the originality alone, and Ryan Phillipe was fantastic in it, so I’d look for a rental for this one.
I actually recently purchased this film because I’ve heard of its underground following. I have yet to watch it, as it is in my giant pile of new movie purchases that I haven’t seen. But, I have been intrigued for a while, and your review only adds to that!! I look forward to watching it!!