Vidocq

VIDOCQ (3+ outta 5 stars) Visually impressive mystery/thriller taking place in France around the time of the French Revolution. Gerard Depardieu plays the title character, Vidocq, a brilliant criminologist who is on the trail of a mysterious caped villain who wears a mirrored mask. In the opening scene the villain knocks Vidocq into a fit of fire and a young journalist (Guillame Canet),who is writing a biography of Vidocq, traces the great detective's last steps to bring the mysterious caped figure to justice. So we get flashbacks to Vidocq's investigation inter-cut with the writer's search. Depardieu makes for an interesting hero... sort of a cross between Sherlock Holmes and a professional wrestler. (You rarely saw Holmes pick up a villain and hurl him across a room.) The computerized special effects look a lot better in this movie than they do in some bigger-budgeted Hollywood movies... the backgrounds all have a veneer of unreality about them and yet they are still convincing. The conclusion is not much of a surprise but the discovery of the villain's identity is still pretty satisfying.

Want to see Gérard Depardieu in a steampunk action fantasy? Then you'll want to watch Dark Portals: The Chronicles of Vidocq. It's a bit weird, but lots of foreign movies are weird, just as I'm sure lots of American movies are weird to non-Americans.

If you're into the fantasy genre, you've probably seen lots of movies like this. A mysterious killer who never allows anyone to see his face. The hero killed off in the first five minutes, falling into a fiery pit and leaving the other characters the rest of the running time to solve his murder. That old strudel. This isn't my usual film fare, but I'll watch literally anything with Gérard in it, so the scenes he was in were worth it.

DLM warning: If you suffer from vertigo or dizzy spells, like my mom does, this movie might not be your friend. Be on the lookout for swirling cameras that will make you sick. In other words, "Don't Look, Mom!"

Yet another "Galliwood" movie, with all the typical French pluses and minuses. On the plus side, it is more original than most Hollywood movies: I particularly like the spectacular, original and surrealistic photography (powerfully blended with digital computer animation). On the negative side, the story is perhaps a bit dull and incoherent; though it is still more inventive than most stories from the same genre. In overall, this is an enjoyable piece. It would deserve much more attention (and financial success) than it actually receives, but "Galliwood" suffers from the lack of effective marketing infrastructure.

This French film was much criticized for wasting it´s visuals in just an action adventure story wich i think its the most unffair thing it can be said on such a masterpiece like this. When an action movie has an empty plot, evcerybody complains, when it has a good plot everybody says it should have been better and not waste its potential. Are you critics nuts ?!! Some attack this movie claiming that its nothing like french a Matrix wannabe. Well i wish Matrix had been such a good movie and had such a good story as VIDOCQ has. And if this is just an imitation, i want a sequel ! As for the Sony Camera style, well it was filmed with one, what do you expect ?! Is that a bad thing ?! It made me want to go out and buy one just to try and make a movie like this. And those closeups look great and realy show how the personalities of some of the characters are distorted and nuts. Brilliant editing also.

I loved the story, the actors and graphicaly is one of the most inovative movies ive seen in recent years. It was not an expensive production, but looks better than most of Hollyood Blockbusters of the last 20 years at least. The genius of this movie is in actualy making us believe that much more money was spent on it than what actualy was. This is the proof you don´t need a big budget to make a big film. All it takes is imagination.

Visualy it couldn´t have been better. The settings are amazing, the computer graphics blend in and add to the visual feel and the atmosphere is incredible. Great action sequences, great mistery and great characters. Above all an original concept wich is something that Hollywood can´t say that it has nowadays.

I´ve loved this movie so much that i bought it from the French Amazon store just a couple of hours ago and i only saw it at the theater last night. It´s a double dvd edition and it has plenty of extra material and i can´t wait to get my hands on it.

One of the best European "fantasy" movies since La Citée des Enfants Perdus and another great french movie. French cinema nowadays has been a great alternative from Hollywood crap. Merci French guys ! :) After seeing such crap as the latest Arnie Shwarzenneger movie its great to have a REAL GOOD movie to watch and see how real cinema should be. Hollywood take notes. No, realy. Take notes, this is how you make a very interesting action movie with style but also with substance.

VIDOCQ is a true masterpiece. More please !

I really wasn't ready to enjoy "Vidocq" having heard a friend of mine telling me he felt like throwing up in the middle of the movie, due to the peculiar camera angles and motion. But having some time to lose while waking up in front of TV, why not take a look?

And I was really taken in that old-Paris atmosphere, which I found strangely bewitching... I did not find the special FX better than in other big budget movies, but "different", finally something original, kind of an nightmarish, apocalyptic surrounding... The storyline had some nice parts to it, but we could have had more. Depardieu was pretty good, Dussollier as well, as opposed to a dreadful Guillaume Canet...

Overall, an interesting movie, with pluses and minuses, I was glad to see it but I won't buy the DVD.... 6/10