I cannot recall ever seeing a career more hindered by ambition then that of Andrew Niccol. When Niccol works in the realm of science fiction he is one hell of an idea man and can come up with some truly great film concepts. From "The Truman Show" to his latest release in this, I've always enjoyed the premises of a Niccol's penned sci-fi film. But as time has passed and he has done more sci-fi films I've come to a conclusion, he isn't talented enough as a director to being his ideas to fruition as good as they should be. "Gattaca" withstanding (which, honestly, it has been so long since I've seen that I'm not sure my opinions still hold true about it), Niccol has done a terrible job in bring to life his sci-fi films. Anon unfortunately continues the trend of being a really good sci-fi premise hindered by a weak narrative. It reminds me of Niccol's last attempt at sci-fi with "In Time" (fuck you "The Host" doesn't count). When I saw "In Time" I considered it to be a really good sci-fi premise located awkwardly within an incredibly lackluster chase film. In the case of "Anon", it's a really good sci-fi premise located in an utterly mundane murder mystery. I found it incredibly hard to care about anything occurring in this film. Characters are weak/half-baked. The "mystery" isn't all that captivating and not at all interesting to see unfold. But man is that sci-fi premise damn good, fitting really well into the "privacy war" sort of age we live in today. It really is a shame that it's wasted on such a weak film, cause given to the right man this idea can make for a damn great movie. That unfortunately is now becoming a trend for me to say; "great sci-fi premise you got here Niccol, shame you had to fuck it up"

In short, as a writer Niccol has a place in the sci-fi film making word but not as a director as far as I'm concerned.