First of all, I think many of the reviews are so polarized is that this story has such potential. Unfortunately it's missing the complexity to make it work. It needs levels of depth, the kind of movie you watch the first time and generally get, but you know you need to watch a bunch more times to enjoy the complexity.I like the overall style, soundtrack, and cinematography. Sure, there's a healthy homage to Blade Runner and I'm OK with that. In this day and age it's pretty hard to come up with something truly new without a ridiculous budget. I will say one thing that bothered me production wise and does about so many films these days is the audio. Can we please have an audio mix not designed for headphones? Vocals are too low and sound effects too loud. I have a very respectable home theater system and it's still hard to understand dialog without turning the volume to silly high levels. Anyway moving on...SPOILERS AHEADI won't get into lots of detail, so you can still watch the movie and enjoy it. The concept of a society that has essentially legalized drug use is a good one. We are pretty much there now. Without getting into what is legal and illegal, these days any illegal substance is essentially available in a legal alternative. It speaks to the time we live in, taking it one level higher, and a great way to pull us into the story. Now we need a pay off.The truly interesting part that drew me to watch this movie is the idea of time travel and that we are capable of it via drugs. This is a truly great concept for telling an amazing story and has so much potential for wonderful detail. Unfortunately, the story doesn't focus much on that. It was worth a watch and I hope someone takes the concept and truly explores it to its potential.

I love near future science fiction, Philip K Dick and 'Do androids dream of electric sheep' subsequently turned into 'Blade Runner' both are up there with my favourite book and film. This film wants to have the same atmosphere as 'Blade Runner' the story revolves around in the near future all drugs are legal and a corporation is hovering up the profits with the police in its pocket. A detective known as a DREK is there to take out illegal drug seller. A body he discovers does not have an identifiable DNA. So why a 4, the dialogue is messy the plot confusing, several scenes simply add nothing to the story. This film really needed a firmer and tighter director as the result is disjointed and at times just confusing.

Justin Trefgarne has his first cinematic debut with the crowdfunded Narcopolis; a sci-fi drama about a future where drugs have been not only legalized, but are being pushed by corporate backers as being a safe alternative to street narcotics.There were several things I really liked about this film, despite being what most people would consider a low budget type of film. First, as a science fiction, it brings a very unique idea to the audience. Although the majority of the film is in the detective style of neo-noir films, the concept is a solid one. Imagine a future, where the majority of citizens are not only using, but encouraged to do so though advertising and product guarantees. Narcotics are available in every society I can think of, but very few of them have been privatized outside of the prescription drug market. There is some decent acting, and I was particularly impressed by Eliot Cowan's portrayal as the protagonist Frank Grieves; who portrayed a massive and daunting man, battling his own demons, while progressing through a series of bizarre events.The things that most people will notice are the poorly written plot twists, and dialogue. Some of the twists that are meant to shock the audience fall quite flat during this film, or are revealed at the wrong times. Perhaps due to poor direction or writing execution, it's hard to say, but there are several scenes that make little to no sense in the overall plot. A few of the actors are new, and you can tell in the way they exchange dialogue. Yet if you can look past these scene errors and look at the overall film, I think you'll be quite pleased at the end result. I encourage more films from Justin Trefgarn and hope he keeps to the same genre. I especially enjoyed the opening of the film, which set quite a pace that I wished that the rest of the movie kept up to.Needless to say, it's a very sound Sci-Fiction / Drama, but most viewers will hold it to perhaps too high a standard. An excellent first entry along the lines of 'Equilibrium' (2002).5/10

***EDIT 55 out of 93...?Seriously, did I do THAT badly...?*******This is a very different, character driven type of Science Fiction film. In the reviews that I read before watching this, they threw around terms like "A cross between 'BLADE RUNNER'" and other Dystopian Sci Fi films, but that is not altogether quite true. I listened to the director's commentary, so I was able to gain a lot of insight into what he was trying to do and what his focus was in making this film. What I got from this is that he was HEAVILY focusing on the Dramatic elements of the characters more than anything else. Not to say that the Science Fiction elements are not good too, but that is not really the true focus of the film (it IS in the sense that the ultimate revelation in the story is primarily Sci Fi oriented, but the main thrust of the film along the way is not)Clearly, the director and everyone involved poured their hearts into the making of this film. The performances are quite good. It's an interesting touch that the boy and the Mother in the film are in actuality the wife and son of the director. The boy is particularly good in his role, and although not really having much experience in heavy duty acting, he really did an outstanding job, especially in his scenes with his screen Dad.The cinematography was also very good with some nice shots of futuristic looking buildings from different countries in contrast with some rather stark UK interior shots. Apparently, they had VERY little money to work with, but considering that, I thought they did a very good job of putting this movie together. The editing and pacing are good. I particularly liked the sound design. I thought that it fit the scenes really well with a nice mix of Industrial sounds and moody backgrounds that were quite effective.The director mentions in his commentary that he deliberately left the last act and ending rather ambiguous, which is fine. I don't mind ambiguous endings at all. BUT... and this is just my own lowly and wretched opinion... I probably would have rather seen him kind of 'Punch up' the Sci Fi aspect of the story a little more, instead of weighting it so heavily towards Drama. Don't get me wrong, the characterizations and interactions with his family were done really well. It just seems to me personally that if you have a real Kick@ss concept, then it would have been nice to have a BIT more of that Kick@ssedness on the Sci Fi part of the story and film, rather than leaving it QUITE so vague and ambiguous. In other words, I don't mind an 'Up in the air' ending at all, BUT... being a real avid Lover of Science Fiction, I would've liked to have seen a more powerful Science Fiction element in the outworking of the story which I feel would've given more weight to it's resolution and would have hit home more effectively. Not giving anything away, but I really DID like the very last scene and felt that that was a great way to leave it, BUT, I would have liked seeing a bit more of an effective 'Punch' leading up to it. A good example of what I mean is the excellent French film 'CHRYSALIS' (2007) which was more of a slightly Science Fiction flavoured Futuristic Crime Thriller, but I felt that the Sci Fi elements in that movie were more effective than in this film.So, going into this movie, I would say that if you are expecting a really HUGE, epic Sci Fi Blockbuster (like the Awesome 'BLADE RUNNER') this movie isn't about that. The look, cinematography, and style are very nicely done, but the Sci Fi elements are very downplayed and low-key. So, you might not get quite as worked up as you would for other Science Fiction films, since this one is more concept and character driven. BUT... with that said, when the Sci Fi part of the story kicks in about half way through, although a bit vague and maybe not quite as realized as it could be, still, the concept and story are quite intriguing and the film definitely DOES leave the audience wondering and asking themselves what the hell is going to happen next...I gave it a '7', which is maybe a LITTLE generous, but that's because I felt that, generally as a MOVIE, it was put together well. However, purely as a Science Fiction film, though, I would probably give it a bit more towards a '6'...