If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

I'm a big Gibson fan, a big Walken fan, a big Dafoe fan, Asia Argento ain't bad to look at, and here is my favorite illustrator, Amano, in his only film appearance. Wow! I was real excited to find out this short story had been made into a movie with such a great cast.After seeing it, it's no wonder I'd never heard of it all this time. It just stinks.Walken is really the only thing carrying the movie at all. The other characters are all unlikeable and easily forgettable. Dafoe is a silly caricature. Argento can't act worth a damn. Amano has no lines.The plot is fairly straight-forward, but for some reason the director decided to abruptly end the movie about two-thirds of the way through, and then replay the whole thing over again in a series of unnecessary flashbacks inter-spliced with what would be included as deleted scenes on the modern day DVD.I really wanted to like this movie, but there's just nothing there except for one of Walken's canned sociopath characters (although well done) and Argento's boobs, which are exposed so many times by the end of the movie, I actually got bored of seeing them. Too bad.

I think this movie got a bum rap. I actually enjoyed it much more than that travesty Johnny Mnemonic (my apologies to Gibson, I know he liked it). Note to Hollywood, Ice-T does not go good with everything, and the deranged preacher bit has been overdone. But here I think Abel Ferrara really made a world in line with what I envisioned when reading the short story, any of Gibson's short stories. It's not a future where everything is blinking lights and super speed CGI, it's a future where most people live in the slums, and the rest have a clean, aerodynamic, one-button-for-everything lifestyle.The premise, a couple of corporate "headhunters" trying to seduce a brilliant researcher away from a billion dollar multinational with a geisha type mole, is the kind of premise that Gibson is famous for. It's a single incident revolving around human emotions but having worldwide implications because the man is so brilliant he could change the course of science.The acting is great of course: Willem Dafoe, Christopher Walken, and an early glimpse of Asia Argento. The story doesn't hit you over the head explaining events like most films, but Ferrara never does, and half the fun is suddenly realizing what's happened, the check mate, on your own.If you want action, go see Johnny Mnemonic, if you want deep, see this film.

SPOILERIn the end it's all about Sandi's treason, Dafoe remembering how she betrayed him, and how he let himself be betrayed (he found the key in her passport and at one time she disappears to get the apartment key...except the key is in the door as Dafoe finds out...he had all the signs that allowed him to realize she was going to betray him, still he didn't do anything) he was seduced in the same way Hiroshi was. He wanted to get away with herself and the money, and all he gets is a stab in the back, she's gone and there's nothing he can do about it except remembering all this in the dark room of New Rose Hotel (the way he remembers the sex scenes reminds me a bit of the character in "Strange Days" that remembers his happy past with the Juliette Lewis character through the mental video engine). Many will find the ending frustrating, and it is frustrating, it's about a man realizing he's been had.

Has any living director created a body of work as unpredictable and frustrating as Abel Ferrara?! 'New Rose Hotel' is another wildly uneven movie from the man who gave us the brilliant 'Bad Lieutenant', one of the greatest movies of the last 15 years, a modern masterpiece greatly admired by Martin Scorsese. The original short story of 'New Rose Hotel' by William Gibson was heavy on atmosphere and mood, and not that heavy on plot. The movie is even more so. A very good story but good material for a film? I don't think so. To make matters worse it's obvious the money ran out before production ended, hence the repetitive flashbacks/recycled footage of the last twenty minutes or so of the movie, something which all but ruins what preceded it. However, I can't dismiss the movie completely because you get to see two of the finest living actors working together. Willem Dafoe, and in his fourth collaboration with Ferrara, Christopher Walken are first rate even if the finished film isn't. Plus there's a great supporting cast, testament to the respect Ferrara has among the acting community - Asia Argento ('Scarlet Diva'), Annabella Sciorra, Victor Argo and Gretchen Moll, who all appeared alongside Walken in Ferrara's 'The Funeral' (a very underrated movie!), and musician/actors John Lurie (The Lounge Lizards/'Down By Law') and Sakamoto (Yellow Magic Orchestra/'Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence'). If you are a newcomer to Ferrara's work I suggest beginning with something a bit more accessible like 'King Of New York', not with this one. I was greatly disappointed by this movie, and if I wasn't such a big fan of Ferrara, Walken, Dafoe and Argo I would say don't bother.