Le grand pardon II

I gather that director Alexandre Arcady must think he's a cross between Francis Ford Coppola and John Woo.Unfortunately he has neither their cinematic flair or story-telling ability,and the end result is an unintentional laugh riot which after awhile just isn't that funny anymore.The Dragnet-style opening narration,Jill Clayburgh's painful over-the-top performance and the almost constant score running in the background,make watching this film to the end real torture.Christopher Walken is the only one in the cast that has any kind of character life going on,but you can tell he was probably pretty fed up with this gig.

What can I say about this film? As an action film it took the foreign route of having a little bit of everything (suspense, surprise ending pathos, good appropriate music, beautiful scenery, boats, planes, helicopters, good guys, bad guys, a plot, a moral(s) very decently recapped at the ending; . . .

and YET TO ME it came off as an American B++ soap opera; the actors were too studied, too stiff. The plot held together, but was simple. The photography and decor was splendid.

I ENJOYED this movie, and might even play it over. I was ENTERTAINING in a mindless way, and that's OK. Sometimes I just want to watch an action movie without dissecting it, and this movie couldn't be dissected.

I probably should have rated it a 7, but emotionally I want to give it an 8. Now for a REAL action movie, I am going to put on one of Clint Eastwood's films.