Vidocq

It takes place in 1830 in Paris. Vidocq is the name of the main character who's based on an actual French historical figure that's considered one of the pioneers of scientific police (think CSI). He's played by probably the most famous French actor living today: Gérard Depardieu. Rather originally, the title character dies in the first 5 minutes of the film. The rest of the story alternates between the investigation of a journalist retracing Vidocq's steps and flashbacks of Vidocq's last case. The original screenplay was written by best-selling French mystery writer, Jean-Christophe Grangé. It was his first original screenplay, and he says it will be his last, and not because he wasn't happy with it. This last case of Vidocq involves the murder of notables by lightning strike. The journalist's investigation takes us from person to person in a rather linear fashion. The investigation itself is not particularly gripping, but there are a couple of big twists at the end. The "bad guy" sports a very cool mirror mask. The fantastical elements originate from the mirror mask person, not everything is real or scientifically explained.

The special effects in general, with a couple of exceptions, are pretty well done, particularly the mask's reflections. It's apparently the first commercial feature film made completely with a digital camera (as opposed to a camera with film). This means that the picture quality, at the time, was crisper than usual, also giving it an unusual look. Lots of work has been done on lighting and colours. The colours are very vivid and favour the colours red, yellow and green. The decors are a mix of real life and digital trickery, they usually look very good and unlike your standard American films. Despite taking place in the 19th century, the editing is modern and very fast, with lots of very quick close-ups. I personally didn't like that style of frenetic cutting because the cuts often seemed unnecessary and made things either less involving or a little harder to assimilate. The characters seemed a bit on the shallow side to me, but then it's more about action, mystery and suspense with a touch of fantastical. Vidocq was compared to the film Seven but in 1830. It's nowhere near as good in any regard, except perhaps for visual style, very different anyway.

The director, Pitof, was a special effects supervisor for most of his career (City of Lost Children, Alien IV) and his following project was directing the infamous Catwoman. It's likely he got that job because of Vidocq. I find that the director Pitof is not very good at telling a story, has trouble with pacing and making us care about the characters. Vidocq is worth renting (or buying cheap) for the spiffy visuals alone. Overall, the movie is not bad but not memorable either. It's likely that a more talented director (Burton, Fincher, Jeunet, etc) with the same material could have done a lot better.

Rating: 6 out of 10 (Good) P.S. There are no portals, dark or otherwise.

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.

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 !

Vidocq is directed by the singular Pitof, who has worked with Jean-Pierre Jeunet on such films as Alien Resurrection and the superior City of Lost Children. Depardieu stars (his 116th film!) in a striking tale of 1830's supernatural murder, set in Paris which would make an excellent double bill with From Hell. Vidocq was a real historical personage, and a genuine founder of modern French criminology - though this is a highly fictionalised part of a part of his life, inspired by the 'orrible crimes of contemporary penny dreadfuls and the likes of Spring Heeled Jack, than by any real facts. The film is shot entirely on high quality video and so visually it is completely different to a regular film. The sometimes disconcerting loss of depth of field brought by the format is compensated for by an immediacy and high impact in close ups, as well as an amazing (and presumably inexpensive), flexibility in shots and special effects. Watching it I was reminded of what a BBC costume drama would be like on acid, and could also see indebtedness to Phantom of the Opera, Sherlock Holmes and perhaps Blade... All in all I thought this the best French fantasy I have seen since Brotherhood of the Wolf - admittedly a small field, especially if one draws a veil over the dismal Belphagor: Phantom of the Louvre. Worth seeing if you like your fantasy dark, Gallic and hectic. A notable credit in the art department on Vidocq is Marc Caro (another Jeunet collaborator), who creates a convincing and claustrophobic world of political upheaval, crowded streets, menacing glass works and a range of grotesques. Some great scenes, EG the two men set on fire by lightning bolts set to the elegant music of Vivaldi, while the three or four main fight scenes are handled excitingly. Vidocq is such a strong character that this film cries out for a sequel. But Pitof is now apparently working on Catwoman, and going by this, his is a stylish, if rather in your face, talent. The HK DVD is excellent, although there are occasional glitches in the subtitles.

This film is visually stunning - it's almost like watching a painting in motion. Everything about the visuals, from the sets to the costumes to the lighting to the camera angles, contributes to a surreal and rather otherwordly, while still dark and gritty, atmosphere - somewhat evocative of Gormenghast.

The plot has enough twists and turns to keep you constantly guessing, and frequently confused: Is Vidocq dead, or alive? Were the murdered men victims, or villains? Or pawns in something larger? Are we looking for a mad scientist, or an urban legend brought to life? Is the political unrest in Paris related to the case, or just a backdrop for it? It borrows elements from both science fiction and fantasy as well as being rooted in the detective genre.

Now, I probably have a higher than average liking for twisted, fantastic, genre-bending movies that make one's brain hurt, but even so, there were some serious holes in the plot, or at least things that never really were well explained. So viewers who place a high priority on logic and consistency may find it a frustrating experience. But overall I very much enjoyed it, and some of the visuals will be with me for a long, long time.