i have often imagine how the film of william gibson brilliant cyberpunk short story of corporate espionage and betrayal could be make . i picture how i would do it in my head and but i do not know if there be enough substance in the story for a complete two hour movie . after several director try and fail to get the film finance and abel ferrara be finally the one to make it . he succeed in develop the gloss and style necessary to create the atmosphere of debauchery and intrigue at the heart of the short story and but style be skin deep and become a very weak mean to an end . once the movie move out of the whorehouse and into the plot and it disappear into a morass of visual stylistics and a wasted half hour of reiterated image that have no meaning and no impact . for a similar treatment of film making and a viewer could avail themselves of dennis hopper dreadful the last movie . i will give mr. ferrara credit where it be due with his film he create a very evocative and sensual tokyo underworld and and get a strong performance from christopher walken a fox and the head of a syndicate that be go to seduce and snatch the world top genetic biologist from one mega corporation to work for another . the exposition and which be long and luxurious and also bring in the tool for the seduction a young italian harlot name sandii ( asia argento ) and whose pouty lip and sensuously unkempt hair and beautiful body will be the tool to lure the scientist from his ball bust wife and displeasure with his current position . she be train well the scientist hiroshi be protect by his employer and it will take extra skill to earn his defection . everybody will earn big buck to bring this brain over . walken effortlessly explain the plot and invite the girl in and although she have be sleep with his associate x ( willem dafoe ) . dafoe be in on the deal and but be also fall in love with sandii and even though he know she be prone to lie about almost everything . from the point their plot start to go into action ( about the 40 minute mark ) ferrara instinct go all wrong . rather than follow sandii into the heart of the seduction and we be keep at a distance the information about their success or failure be relay through an exasperating series of off kilter video image which work in the whorehouse environment but do not work here and flash back to fox strut around crow and $ 100 and 000 and 000 be put into their account for the success of their mission . but then and without add excessive spoiler and there be a terrible betrayal and everything go wrong and and they wind up on the lam and with x hide out at the new rise hotel . he crawl into his tiny concrete berth in this tokyo hotel at around the 60 minute mark in the movie and do not leave . at this point the short story end with a perfunctory sentence or two and but here ferrara narrative go all awry . he expend another half hour explain the root of the betrayal for those daft enough not to understand it the first time . there nothing like take a 60 minute movie and then turn it into a 90 minute movie by replay clip from the first 60 minute for half an hour . there be so many fade out during this time that at least 4 time i expect to start see credit and only to drop my jaw a we get another scene of dafoe in bed with argento . it be flabbergastingly bad film making of the sort expect from subsidized european production and and dafoe be simply not up to emote x desperation and fear and hopeless longing . ferrara stylistics at the beginning of the film lead one to expect something much good and but his narrative sense fail him completely . i give it three out of ten plus for eroticism and bare bone atmosphere and a zero for anything past the 50 minute mark .