This film really divides people, doesn't it? It's one of my favourites, but I think you have to accept that the real love story at the heart of it is between Enola, the young girl, and the Mariner. As I said about The City of Lost Children, this...
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This film really divides people, doesn't it? It's one of my favourites, but I think you have to accept that the real love story at the heart of it is between Enola, the young girl, and the Mariner. As I said about The City of Lost Children, this is a place where our culture is afraid to go, which is sad, because the adoration of a pre-pubescent girl for a hero figure is a natural and innocent emotion on her part, and a real test of the hero's human qualities, for that matter. Enola has a magnificent speech (delivered to the bad guy when she's in his power) where her hero worship is given expression - and the Mariner lives up to her expectations, wildly exaggerated as they seem, when he does his knight in shining armour bit. It's just a shame that the film cops out of putting this pair centre stage, and instead gives us a rather sleazy affair between the Mariner and Enola's guardian. The oddly tongue-in-cheek quality of Dennis Hopper's villain is also determined by his scenes with Enola - can't have the child heroine seriously threatened by a psychopath - it would be a different kind of film.

An ok movie but still not 100% great the movie was to slow and dull in some parts my rating is 2 1/2 stars.