Starring Bill Pullman, Gabriel Byrne and Andie MacDowell Directed by Wim Wenders Rated R, with profanity and violence Running time 122 minutes Jack gives this film a rating of 4 out of 10

(Nov. 7, 1997) -- German-born director Wim Wenders often compares filmmaking to painting -- and was once a painter himself.

Judging by his new film, The End of Violence, his field would be abstract expressionism. There are substantive things going on in the film; they're just not presented very clearly.

Wenders (of Paris, Texas and Wings of Desire) has made a film that's clearly about the nature of violence in our society. But once he latches onto the subject he wishes to explore, he stumbles through the process.

Like Paris, Texas, The End of Violence is an American-made, American-based film, set in modern Los Angeles. Bill Pullman stars as Mike, a high-powered Hollywood producer who specializes in violent action flicks. Gabriel Byrne co-stars as Ray, a technician who works for some veiled corporation that specializes in high-tech surveillance systems.

Ultimately, both men go through transformations. Mike becomes a victim of violence, and rejects any further use of it in his life. Gabriel also changes, once he discovers his company uses its space-age surveillance to assassinate people, apparently from outer space.

(I'm sorry if I seem vague about some of these points; the movie is far from clear, so I'm forced to guess.)

Also entangled are Mike's sexy but neglected wife, Paige (Andie MacDowell), and Ray's elderly father, who is played in a sad farewell cameo by a clearly ill Sam Fuller, a legendary B-movie director who died in late October.

On its convoluted path to who-knows-where, The End of Violence raises echoes of other philosophical theme movies, including Short Cuts, Grand Canyon and Blow-up. But those movies were easier to decipher and, therefore, more engaging.

The End of Violence is often a pretentious struggle, saved only by the important, relevant theme that occasionally emerges.