Arès

In France of the future the corporations are all powerful. Despite owning pretty much everything they seem bent on ruining everyone's day for more profit. It is now legal to test chemicals and robotics on people, leading to some great gizmos and some very messed up test subjects.

The title character is a boxer who ekes a living by getting his head kicked-in on cable TV. He is a quiet, moody pragmatist dedicating himself to survival.

His sister and niece have much grander ideas.

What follows is a great character study. It is the realist verses the idealist. If nobody tries to make a change then nothing changes - on the other hand you have to accept the cost that you and those around you are going to pay.

The action is fairly light, there are some fisty-cuffs but nothing to get excited about. The characters are very interesting and well cast. The filming is purposely dark and grungy - don't expect too much of Sci- Fi this is mainly about a clash of ideals.

Definitely worth a Netflix watch.

Ares is not the kind of film I'd normally watch, I've just had a spate of good luck with French cinema lately so hoped for the best.

It tells the story of a struggling futuristic France where 15 million people are unemployed and even more homeless. Prize fighting has become big business and our story follows a washed up fighter reeled back in by big pharma and their legal enhancement supplements.

Despite the subject matter this isn't the brainless macho action feature you'd expect, it's fairly smart and paints a grim dystopian future where people are desperate while the top 1% manipulate them.

I appreciated everything they did here, though it's certainly not my kind of film that made something out of a very played out formula.

Good writing saves it to a degree and I'd say this is a watchable affair for anyone who likes their action films with a hint of intelligence.

The Goood:

Well written

Fairly smart little film

The Bad:

The brainless aspects still exist

Not as polished as it could have been

That's the kind of picture that the Hollywood crap factories will unfortunately never give us, concerning the characters, the scheme and especially the ending. A very very pessimistic but realistic tale about the future of the human kind. This scheme may make the audience think of George Orwell's 1984 or Yves Boisset's LE PRIX DU DANGER. A true depressing portrait of an anti hero, a man who has nothing to lose after his sister death, a desperate man ready at anything to save his nieces against a powerful and gigantic pharmaceutic company which wants to rule the world. That's a gloomy and brutal, bloody story, not for the squeamish. Ole Rapace already played in another anticipation stuff, a mini series, SECTION ZERO, which I have already talked about and where Rapace gave a similar performance. He is an underrated actor, very convincing.

I'm always interested in new plot ideas and this one was different. My main gripe was that it was pretty slow. It really didn't pick up until the last 20 minutes and then ended super quick. It was a short movie and there wasn't a lot of dialogue so I didn't mind the subtitles at all.

Amazing. Dystopian vision encapsulated in fairly short, yet well served story. It's barebone, it's told consequently, characters are credible (even though stereotypes are used heavily) and the makers managed not only to fit into the story large, unpleasant vision of broken society but also how it influences ordinary people relationships, way of thinking and how burdensome simple decency might be. And the level of world-building details, all of them placed well and presented naturally - oh, it's really great.

Sci-fi was always about warning and exploring possible futures of mankind and cyberpunk sub-genre dwells on particularly disillusioned assessment of human nature. Make no mistake, this is not William Gibson copy, it is original piece and has unique touch to it (Eiffel tower burdened with giant commercial displays is really a view to remember). Yet given how the western society looks like nowadays it continues to underline and repeat the vision of very pessimistic consequences down that path. We can get a glimpse on that terrifying future walking along with Ares, ex professional boxer, riot cop hired for hours whos dream of decent, peaceful life is a corner kiosk. Ares is forced to get back on the ring and well, things go south at some point.

The crates and secured doors. The groceries bought through small slipping hole (so the shop robbery isn't that easy). The shop-keeper speaking through mic and pushing away regular customer, a total negative of still existing cozy small-shop topos with keeper knowing his regulars and chatting with them about their lives. Such details, small touches, consequently presented throughout the movie make this world terrifyingly alive and... possible.

Must see for cyberpunk fans, should see for anyone who likes condensed, yet complete story with good visuals.