XIII: The Conspiracy

I love the show 24. This is close but not a duplicate --

I love the movies of Bourne Identity, again close but no cigar.

This is an original story line depicted in the make-up of a very talented director and writer.

If you want action, adventure, excitement, intrigue then this is the movie for you. I don't understand all of the negative feed back on this movie. I really enjoyed it.

Its a lot better than most of the so called action adventure movies out so far.

Thumbs up -- 8/10

This movie is from a Belgium comics book that was print in 1984, so if there is any cloning it can't be from 24 hours that came out years later! since 1984 a series of book with this character is on the market each year! there is more than 24 comics book actually on book selves in any french speaking country! when you follow the movies you can see the outline of 9 11 conspiracy type followed per the patriot act, ideas that came up in a 1984 comics book. Those two movies follow the original idea but as in any movies script, the movies is a bit different than the comics book, the general idea still in place. The movies have nothing to do with 24 hours, they are not even close! In case you didn't notice 24 hours action is 99% based in LA, seriously how much time a US president spend in LA during a 8 years term?

I've been a fan of the comics since I first read them years ago, so I've approached every adaptation I have found with a hope that it would do them justice, and a fear that it wouldn't. And yes, this is similar to the Bourne series, as I understand it, Van Hamme, the author, liked the Ludlum book(s?), and used some of the same ideas. This and the 2003 video game both get certain(but not necessarily the same) things right, whilst failing on others. In tone, this comes fairly close. It's disturbing, dark and, at times, the ideas in this are brutal. The humor in this, while it's relatively limited(and, frankly, doesn't all work, it can feel forced), is perhaps a tad much. The overall accuracy is reasonable, and several changes do make sense. They updated the story to present day(it was, when it was a graphic novel, as well, but the first one came out 14 years ago), and thus also made it more modern, adding tech and such, without that taking over. Several of the characters are changed(a couple are combined, as well) and not all of the casting makes perfect sense(what on Earth happened to Jones? Sure, she looks the part, but that's about it). The plot is interesting and captured and kept my attention throughout. It doesn't develop entirely the same, though a good bit of the core of it is intact. The awesome abilities are definitely still there. Dorff and Kilmer are great. I've heard this compared to the television show 24, and I suppose I can see why. It should be noted that not all of those aspects were foreign to this franchise before this hit small screens. Episode 1 ends in a way that ought to get viewers back for the second half(which starts with repetitions of plenty of what happened in the first one) of the three hour running time. The ending is not going to satisfy everyone, however, the source material taken into account, and the fact that it isn't easy to finish it, especially in this amount of time. The cinematography and editing are excellent, the action is very well-done and exciting. The music is well-done. The production values leave little to be desired. The acting varies, as does the dialog, but there are cool moments in this. This isn't terribly graphically violent, and there's no sex. Still, it is not intended for children, and it doesn't feel like it was made to be less strong. Language is mild and infrequent, if even that. I recommend this to fans of the original(as with any other translation from one medium to another, do not expect everything to be the same), as well as anyone who enjoys this type of film/mini. 7/10

I just watched this as they aired the series as one 171-minute long movie, but it didn't feel long at all since there's always something interesting or at least exciting going on in this show/movie. Honestly, I'm not that familiar with the Bourne character or saga (I've only seen one of the installments, plus the older TV show with Richard Chamberlain as Bourne) but I think this one is enjoyable on its own terms.

The premise is similar to "Bourne": a man wakes up suffering from heavy amnesia, unable to remember his name or any whereabouts about his life before that moment. He soon finds out that the president of the US has been assassinated and that he is being chased after, and that he has a tattoo on his upper chest with the number "XIII". From that on, he will have to survive and find out who he is and why he has so many and such fierce enemies.

The plot is quite smart, it does not provide (or need) many cliffhangers or unexpected turns until the final part. It is also a smarter-than-average plot for what you would expect from an action movie. The characters are not terribly well developed, but all or most main actors do a good job.

I have never played the computer game and haven't read the comic series yet, but after watching this movie, I will surely try to check both things out! It is true that this movie has many similarities to The Bourne series and that many films have the same concept and that's the reason why I don't give this movie a top rating.

But the story is well thought, there are many nice action elements, a lot of tension, some surprises and a little twist in the ending. The acting is well done, especially by the bad boys, but not outstanding. The movie is well directed and has some really good images and the dialogues are also well composed unlike many other films of the genre, you can really see that there has been some budget in this movie and that it is a high quality product. It is sad that the movie hasn't been in every country's cinemas though. I watched the about 180 minutes long version in one shot as it came out on DVD and I didn't find a single minute of boredom in the film what is quite exceptional.

In conclusion, this movie is more creative than many other similar movies with the same ideas and very entertaining so that I can't understand most of the negative critics. This movie is nothing revolutionary, but still one of the best of its kind.