The Final Programme

Of my role-models, Jerry Cornelius is probably one of the less well-known, by my clique readership anyway. Though initially a variant of another Michael Moorcock creation, Elric,with the same plots transferred from a sword and sorcery milieu to the late Sixties in which they were written, he soon took on a life beyond that and for a time was something of an icon. A more swinging James Bond, an Austin Powers played straight, all informed with a certain loopy messianic quality. As such it's a mystery to me that only once has anyone attempted to make a film version. And from what I heard said film was a curiosity rather than actually being any good.
Last night, courtesy of a friend and lurker hereon, I finally got to see it. And I'm mystified as to why it isn't better regarded. It has the thrills and spills needed for mainstream success. It inevitably fiddles with details of the book, and abbreviates, but remains true throughout to the spirit and concerns of the dying age, the convergence of physics and mysticism, the Messiah of the Age of Science. And above all, Jon Finch as Jerry is pretty much perfect. He does the suave, bored demeanour perfectly, wearing frills and nail varnish as a dandy rather than an effeminate, casually superior whenever possible - but then he's also perfect at letting the cool slip when under pressure, the aspect of Cornelius I didn't notice until after I'd adopted him as an icon (a bait-and-switch I'm sure Moorcock intended all along).
edit, of sorts: I was about to post this with the mood 'entropic' when I realised that I don't think the word 'entropy' was used once in the film. Perhaps that's everyone's objection?
edit: Oh My Life!