Michel Vaillant

Well, ok, it's no masterpiece, but I seem to be the only person here that took some enjoyment from it. The comics in which the movie was inspired are not there, I agree, but when you accept it like another movie and not an adaptation, you'll probably like it. See it for the sheer pleasure of seeing a racing competition and a great display of technical achievements, and you won't come out disappointed. This is one of those movies that don't bear a close scrutiny, but that's not the reason why they made it. Good to know that at least it's entertaining, and has some feeling. Sometimes only that makes it worth while.

It's funny how much this movie is hated and bashed by mainly the French speaking people and critics for whom Michel Vaillant is a real icon figure, while in the rest of Europe and outside of it, this movie is regarded as a good movie! It are mainly the people who grew up with the comic books that saw and hated this movie, hence the low rating on IMDb.com. But for those who aren't familiar with the comic books this movie is a fun watching pleasure and very well worth seeing. I'm sure when the movie gets more world widely released, the rating will go up as well, something this movie really deserves.

This movie is a great example of how a movie based on a comic book should be. The movie is very stylish and uses some great camera positions and editing (even though at times the editing is very sloppy)

Granted that the story is absolutely unbelievable and dumb but in this case I had no problems or what so ever with it. Keep in mind that this movie is based on comic books, so if you expect any reality or logic, this movie might not be your kind of thing. Just sit back and enjoy and don't think too much about the story.

Of course the best things about the movie are the races. For a race lover this movie is a real must see. The races are really spectacular and should get your adrenaline flowing.

I certainly wouldn't mind seeing more Michel Vaillant movies being made!

8/10

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During my teenage years I was a fan of the Michel Vaillant-comics. This was the only reason I went to see the movie. I feared the worst and my expectations were fulfilled. The only thing this movie has to offer are a few decently filmed race scenes (the ones in the mountains). Forget the lousy screenplay and other major flaws. The dubbing is what finally kills the movie. There may be a French and an international version, but the latter is a complete mess-up. French actors speaking English (with a French accent); other French actors' voices are dubbed into British English or American English (at random : they have Steve Warson's sister (Irish ?) speaking with an American accent); only Steve Warson's character has a decent British accent, simply because the actor himself is British.

How could this mess come about ? Simple, they wanted to sell the film to an international (read English-speaking) audience. Shame on you, Luc Besson, for getting involved in this disastrous film project!

This movie is strangely uneven. On the one hand, all the shots on a racetrack or whenever somebody drives a car are very nicely shot and framed. But when it's a transition scene, it has the look and terrible acting of a third-zone TV feature. Some shots are not even really in focus ! Furthermore, all the post-production dubbing of the foreign actors is quite off, and the story has some big plot holes. For instance, why don't they even try to call the police ? What's left is a movie with some pretty girls, very nice cars and some good action sequences. Not that bad, but not enough to make a good movie.

Well, the movie is very well made, personally I like the car racing world, and you can see in the movie that Luc Besson is fan of cars. The script is very simple, is based on a comic, and it's not really very original, but the effects, and the way that frames were took made the movie interesting. Don't expect a kind of stuff like "the fast and the Furious" or "taxi" because the movie doesn't try to be spectacular , it trys more to find quality images. The rate I gave to the movie is a 7, and i find that the actual rate 4.5 is not enough.

(If you have played to Pro Race Driver or went to karting you will enjoy more ;)).