Director Wim Wenders has a talent for making film masterpieces out of risky and unusual plot concepts. His last picture, Wings of Desire, followed the story of trenchcoat-wearing angel who falls in love--and out of grace--when he meets a trapeze artist in a Berlin circus. His new work, a high-tech detective love story that unfolds in a world on the verge of the 21st century, is equally improbable and enthralling.

Until the End of the World opens with the threat of global disaster. It is the year 1999, and a nuclear satellite hovers menacingly over the earth's atmosphere, out of control. No one knows where or when the satellite will crash.

The film's disenchanted young heroine, Claire (Solveig Dommartin), couldn't care less. Adrift on the highways between Venice and Paris with the loot from a bank robbery in the front seat of her car, Claire gives a ride to fellow traveller Sam Farber (William Hurt). She falls in love with him during their day-long trip to the French capitol. Only after she has dropped Farber off at his hotel does she realize that he has stolen her money.

Claire's pursuit of the thief takes her from Paris to Portugal, Berlin, Moscow, Beijing, Tokyo, San Francisco and Central Australia.

Claire is not the only one following Farber. She is joined in her trip around the planet by an intrepid American writer (Sam Neill) who is hopelessly in love with her, a benign, harmonicaplaying bounty hunter from Berlin (Rudiger Volger), a goofy French bank robber and the FBI.

Until the End of the World is a global experience. More than six languages are spoken in the film, so be prepared for intermittent subtitles. Wenders filmed the movie on location in the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Russia, China, Japan and Australia.

To futurize this familiar terrain, he challenged production designers, computer and video professionals, and fashion artists to create the clothing, the cityscapes and the technology of the approaching century. The results are fascinating.

For the viewer interested in performances as well as cinematography, Until the End of the World is worth seeing twice--attention is often divided between the flawless and inventive performances of Dommartin, Hurt, and Neill and the whimsical subtlety of the sets. The screen-play, though written by Peter Carey and Wim Wenders, is based on an original idea by Wenders and Solveig Dommartin.

Be forewarned: This is not a short film. Claire's journey takes up more than two and a half hours of screentime. Despite this, Until the End of the World does not turn into a viewer endurance test. The movie's soundtrack, currently one of HMV's top ten sellers, speeds the plot. Like the scene design and the costuming, the film's music contributes to Wenders' vision of the 21st century. Comprised of music specially commissioned for the film, the soundtrack features the work of the Talking Heads, R.E.M., Elvis Costello, Lou Reed, Depeche Mode and U2, among others.

The sights and sounds of Wenders' year 2000 will stay will you long after you leave the theater, and the cast's performance, including cameo appearances by Max Von Sydow and Jeanne Moreau, is memorable. Until the End of the World is a long ride, but it's well worth the trip.