Smartorhypo
Highly Overrated But Still Good
Noutions
Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .
Beanbioca
As Good As It Gets
Zlatica
One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.
J_Carls
I was pleasantly surprised by this film and have also wondered about the negative reviews. The movie has two problems 1) a problem of perception: it starts off looking like a fairly routine mystery / police procedural, but elements of other kinds of movies begin to trickle in as the plot reveals itself -- which may have confused some reviewers wanting a pure genre piece, 2) the plot IS a little hard to follow in places and depends on one important coincidence in particular. However, the overall story makes sense in a "gestalty" kind of way and I don't think it's a killer issue. Oh, and 3) the English dub (which I turned on a couple of times) should be confiscated and burned. It's a fairly good dub in syncing the lips, but the voicing is as inappropriate as any bad dub of a Japanese film. For Pete's sake, hire a mimic next time you dub an actor as well-known as Reno.But I take real issue with the critics who labeled as "ridiculous" this or that aspect of the film. People have given high marks to James Bond films that stretched belief far more painfully. The real issue is that the French filmmakers aren't telegraphing the genre to the viewers. Good for them.Offsetting any problems is the wonderfully mysterious setup that ends in a real surprise about 40 minutes into the picture. That's the point when the picture shifts gears and we start seeing the "action/adventure" film which is quite well done.
XeniaisGod
I'm starting to like French action movies. This one reminded me a little bit in its feel of Kiss of the Dragon, minus the kung-fu.The colouring and mood of the film are dark and edgy, as are its characters. Jean Reno delivers a good time, as per usual.I will say that the plot twists to the point of nonsense, but it's still a good ride.The film also has a hint of an Islamophobic air, given the current geopolitical climate, but not to the point of being overt.In all, one of the best action films I've seen in a while, highly recommended within its genre.
siderite
The French noticed that Jean Reno + interesting/shocking plot and lots of high budget action make money. The still hold on to the plot thing, but I think they are going in the same direction as Hollywood movies.In this one you have army experiments, terrorism, violent police behaviour and corrupt police (always a success in France) mixed with fast paced action and plot twists. It's not that the movie is bad, it's that is not good that bothers me. OK, it was supposed to be an action thriller and in this direction it was not bad at all, but with a little more work, the idea of the movie could have been a lot more captivating.Conclusion, the first hour of the movie is not as intense as the last. The film looses tension as it unravels and somewhere on the middle it gets boring as the investigative characters catch up with what is rather obvious to the viewers. The ending is not surprising, but satisfactory. As an action film is OK, but do search a good translation.
Mike Bos
I completely understand the plot it goes like this :Girl without memory has face changed for some reason - The police changed her memory - She changed her face because she did a drug rip-deal - Here brother likes to kill people who look like her - Actually she is a Turkish terrorist - Jean reno is involved in something - The turks kill another group of turks in a bath filled with mintThen it gets better :The girl is a ninja - The drugs are in an enormous cave filled with death people - The case collapses and Reno is death - No he is not deathNever mind all that the end is amazing :Reno, the cop, the girl, the brother all end up in Turkey - At the same time of course, the whole France police force is also there - The girl kills here father - The cop, reno and the police kill everyone else in the village - The serial killer brother tries to serial kill the girlThe best thing about this movie however is the final end :Switch of DVD player, throw disk in bin, and sue the french for wasting your time.Movie seem to be made by a bunch of spaced out french with a high budget. Awful just awful, worst waste of time and money ever (well, there's french cars which are a step below that...)