The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2011
	Director: David Fincher (Se7en, Fight Club, The Social Network)
	Actors: Daniel Craig (Skyfall, Cowboys vs. Aliens), Rooney Mara (The Social Network), Christopher Plummer (Starcrash, The Sound of Music, Up), Stellan Skarsgård (Pirates of the Carribean 2-3, Thor), Robin Wright (Forrest Gump)
	Country: N, S, USA
	Genre: Polar
	Conditions of visioning: 30.12.2012, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: After loosing a trial against a powerful magnate, the editor of a political newspaper (Craig) is hired by the head of a powerful family to investigate the dissapearance of his niece 40 years before. An outcast young female hacker (Mara) will team up with him.
Review: This remake by the nonetheless gifted David Fincher is as useless as the one of the excellent Infernal Affairs by Scorcese. The story is the same as in the original, some scenes even copied shot by shot, and only some sections are adapted to an American audience. All of this only to have known faces on the screen. Maybe it is because I saw the original a few weeks ago, but I was not convinced by neither the filmmaking nor the acting in the remake. It might be true that the lead actor Michael Nyquist was not very charismatic, but Daniel Craig is not much better. I had the feeling that the connection between some scenes is not very fluent, and follows more a receipe. In particular during the first half of the movie the parallel between the two stories (Craig and Mara) is not well done. The Girl from the title is well played by Rooney Mara, but not as well as Noomi Rapace in the original. On the good side, Fincher managed to efficiently reduce the length of the movie from three to two and a half hours, and remove the TV-film look the original sometimes had. But some ellipses make that we are less convinced by the motivation of the characters, while at the same time some things are over-explained while they were better left suggested as in the original.
Rating: 5 /10

The Ward (2010)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2010
	Director: John Carpenter (Halloween, The Thing)
	Actors: Amber Heard (Zombieland), Mamie Gummer, Danielle Panabaker, Jared Harris (Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Horror, Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 21.12.2012, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: Kristen (Heard) is sent to the psychiatric ward of an hospital after having burned down an old farm. She will start to make friends with the other innmates, and discover that some kind of entity haunts the place.
Review: The latest movie by one of my favorite directors John Carpenter (I own all his movies), who has been absent since Ghosts of Mars in 2001, except for two episodes of the TV-series Masters of Horror. The topic fits him well, but it has been done before. I cannot really tell which other movies this one reminds me of without spoiling the ending. I enjoyed as usual Carpenter's art of moviemaking: slow pace, beautiful use of the cinemascope format, nice presentation of some good-looking actresses. I also liked the opening credits sequence (that you fully understand only at the end) and I found the soundtrack very good in the first half hour, reminding me of the one of Drive. But the last hour contains less and less ideas, and in the end I realized it is pretty much a copy of another movie, only transposed in a ward and with an all-female cast. One detail at the end makes me think that the copy is intentional, making it an hommage then. SPOILER: Highlight the following to know which movie it is a copy of, and the main twist: Identity (2003), multiple personalities.
Rating: 6 /10

The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury (2004)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2004
	Director: Peter Chung (The Animatrix, segment Matriculated)
	Actors (voices): Vin Diesel (XxX, Pitch Black, Fast and Furious), Rhiana Griffith, Keith David
	Country: USA
	Genre: Animation, SF
	Conditions of visioning: 21.12.2012, DVD, Home cinema
Synopsis: Barely escaped from a monster-infested planet (see Pitch Black) Riddick (Diesel), the little girl Jack (Griffith) and the Imam (David) are captured by a bounty hunter.
Review: An interesting animated follow-up to the excllent B-movie Pitch Black, using the same characters and introducing some ones of the following Chronicles of Riddick. Lasting only 33 minutes, it tells us a bit more about the legend Riddick and his extraordinary ability to fight, especially in darkness. The story with bounty hunters reminds strongly of Cowboy Bebop, and the organic animation of the Animatrix episode from the same director. But there is not much more to it, just an interesting expansion of the universe, with an OK quality for animation and story.
Rating: 5 /10

Collateral Damage (2002)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2002
	Director: Andrew Davis (Above the Law, Under Siege, The Fugitive)
	Actors: Arnold Schwarzenegger (The Terminator), John Leguizamo (Summer of Sam, Land of the Dead), Francesca Neri (Hannibal), John Turturro (O'Brother, Transformers 1-3), Cliff Curtis (Blow, Fracture, The Last Airbender)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Action
	Conditions of visioning: 20.12.2012, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: After a terrorist attack, events will compell a firefighter (Schwarzenegger) to look for the responsibles by himself.
Review: After making this movie, Schwarzy did Terminator 3 to which he was attached contractually, and then almost dissapeared from the Movie scene for the eight years of his Governorship of California. Thus it was the last opportunity to see him play a human before about a decade! Unfortunately this movie about terrorist attacks was about to be released end of 2001, but after the 9/11 events it was pulled out, editied differently and release in 2002. Even though, Schwarzenegger writes in his autobiography Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story (soon to be reviewed on this blog): "when Collateral Damage debuted the following February, it felt both irrelevant and painful to watch in the light of the recent events". Indeed the movie starts pretty well with good screenplay (although classical) and good ideas. I found Schwarzenegger's acting very good for this role which is not one of a trained killer for once. A bunch of known actors make you feel at ease, like John Turturro around the middle of the movie that introduces some comedy to release the tension. On the down side, some special effects look terribly cheap and more importantly in the third act of the movie you feel the absence of the scenes that have been edited out, and the conclusion feels strange and unfinished. It is still OK to watch, but not as good and ambitious as it could have been.
Rating: 5 /10

Pumping Iron (1977)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1977
	Director: George Butler, Robert Fiore
	Actors: Arnold Schwarzenegger (Conan the Barbarian, The Terminator), Lou Ferrigno (The Incredible Hulk TV-series), Matty Ferrigno
	Country: USA
	Genre: Documentary
	Conditions of visioning: 19.12.2012, DVD, Home cinema
Synopsis: What is bodybuilding and how do you train to become Mr Universe?
Review: Reading the excellent autobiography from Arnold Schwarzenegger Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story (soon to be reviewed on this blog) made me want to see some of his first and/or less known movies. I have already seen Hercules in New York (1969), his first movie as bodybuilder, and I will soon watch Stay Hungry (1976) in which he learned acting from Jeff Bridges. Pumping Iron is the 1977 documentary that made the world discover bodybuilding. I didn't learn more by watching it than by reading the biography, but I could see the bodybuilders in action! We follow a few of them as they teach us what is bodybuilding and as they train and compete for the amateur title of Mr Universe or the professional one of Mr Olympia. In particular Arnold Schwarzenegger is planning on winning this title for the sixth time in a row. He tells us that bodybuilding is all about symmetry and definition of the muscles, but that to achieve perfection you also need a strong mind. We discover the arrogant side of him, ready to use any psychological mean available in order to destabilize his opponents. In particular how he proudly convinced Lou Ferrigno that he will loose even before the contest starts ("I already called my Mom to tell her that I won", "Too bad the contest is too early, one month later you would have had a chance at least" ...). We feel sorry for the young unexperienced Lou and his hard-working father. Apart from the interesting topic, it is worth noticing that the documentary is quite well done: structure, editing, music...
Rating: 6 /10

Das Boot (1981)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1981
	Director: Wolfgang Petersen (The Neverending Story, Air Force One, Troy)
	Actors:  Jürgen Prochnow (Wing Commander, Air Force One, The English Patient), Herbert Grönemeyer, Klaus Wennemann
	Country: D
	Genre: War
	Conditions of visioning: 16.12.2012, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: During WWII we follow the day-to-day life of the crew in a German submarine patrolling the North Atlantic.
Review: Last time I have seen this movie was on a DVD in which the added scenes were of poorer quality with respect to the rest of the movie. This has been fixed with this nice Blu-ray edition: three and a half hours of continous tension beautifully rendered. Petersen managed to keep us attentive in spite of the extra lenght of the movie, even without showing much action! You have to be in the right mood to stand the length, but it can be quite... immersive. The main music theme also helps during the action scenes. The best element of the movie is with no doubt the recreated interior of a WWII German U-Boot, that I had the opportunity to visit at the Bavaria Film Studios in Munich. It is basically no more than a long a narrow corridor spanning from the engine room at the tail, through the kitchen, command post, sleeping area and torpedo room in front. This narrowness plays a big role in making the movie believable and realistic. Then you have this bunch of very young men locked under water and subject to fear and boredom, lead by a captain played by the brillant Jürgen Prochnow and a no-less brillant team of officers. A movie that must belong to a collection of sub-marine movies side-by-side with Hunt for the Red October and Crimson Tide, especially as it belongs to another generation.
Rating: 8 /10

A History of Violence (2005)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2005
	Director: David Cronenberg (Scanners, Naked Lunch, The Fly, Videodrome, Eastern Promises)
	Actors: Viggo Mortensen (The Lord of the Rings 1-3, Eastern Promises), Maria Bello (Payback, E.R TV series), William Hurt (Dark City, The Incredible Hulk), Ed Harris (Apollo 13, Ed TV)
	Country: USA, D
	Genre: Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 15.12.2012, DVD, Home cinema
Synopsis: A regular man (Mortensen) in a small town will become an American hero and attract unwanted attention to him and his family.
Review: It was a positive shock when I saw this movie for the first time. I thought Cronenberg dead and buried, his success was winding down with Crash, eXistenZ, Spider, but he managed to get out of his traditionnal genre of hard/gore/strange organic movies to produce somehing completely different and surprise everybody. One must watch the international and not american version of History of Violence, in which a few typical Cronenberg organic scenes have not been edited out, and reinforce the message of the film. I find this movie very well filmed, the actors (in particular Mortensen) very convincing, and the music by Howard Shore (The Fly, The Lord of the Rings) just what is needed: guiding your feelings but never stealing the attention over the images. I love the wordless ending, all played in the characters eyes and subtle reactions, and you understand that things are going to be allright. I have read the Grapic Novel that inspired the movie and I find the adaptation very well done also. The third act of the novel (in which Joeys brother is alive and has been tortured for twenty years) would not have worked on film. I also liked Cronenberg's next film Eastern Promises, although not so much, and am looking forward to Cosmopolis. The only reason I didn't give it the highest ranking is because I find that the introduction of the perfect family at the beginning of the movie is a bit too cheesy.
Rating: 9 /10

The Girl who played with Fire (2009)

	Also Known As: Verdammnis (Germany), Flickan som lekte med elden (original)
	Year of first release: 2009
	Director: Daniel Alfredson (The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest)
	Actors: Michael Nyqvist (Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol), Noomi Rapace (Prometheus)
	Country: D, DK, S
	Genre: Polar, Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 14.12.2012, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: The two main characters of the first film (Rapace and Nyquist) are reunited though a prostitution story involving girls from Eastern countries.
Review: This sequel feels a bit forced in bringing back together the characters of the first film and the winning receipe, a bit like in The Bourne Supremacy. While the first movie was set in the countryside and the police was little involved, this time we are in the big city and the police investigation runs in parallel to the journalistic one. The reactions from the protagonists are sometimes nicely unpredictable. I liked in particular when the young boxer witnesses the kidnapping of the friend he came to warn, follows the car and ends up fist fighting to free this friend, against all odds. Nicely written. If the first movie reminded me of many Nordic movie I knew, this one recalls Kill Bill to my mind! No specific reason, just a feeling, an atmosphere and some references. Still a good sequel but I hope for some change in the third opus.
Rating: 6 /10

A lot of Action in 2013

I have recently seen a couple of movie trailers that promise an Action-packed year of 2013.

Mystery Men (1999)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1999
	Director: Kinka Usher
	Actors: Ben Stiller (Zoolander, Dodgeball), William H. Macy (Fargo, Jurassik Park 3, E.R. TV series), Geoffrey Rush (Pirates of the Caribbean 1-4), Janeane Garofalo (Dogma, Ratatouille), Greg Kinnear (Little Miss Sunshine)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Action, Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 11.12.2012, DVD, 40" TV
Synopsis: In a future city where crime has almost dissapeared thanks to Captain Amazing (Kinnear), a bunch of odd superhero wannabies lead by Mr Furious (Stiller) is trying to find their place.When Casanova Frankenstein (Rush) takes over the city and captures Amazing, they will have to recruit and surpass themselves in the fight against evil.
Review: Seing the movie this time was not as funny as I remembered. It was a nice parody at the time before the wave of superhero movie that is now lasting for more than a decade. I remember it went out just before the first X-men. There are plenty of good actors and still some pretty good moments (Invisible boy, the Shoveler borrowing the baseball vest from his son, the blur Raja dressed in green and that doesn't use knifes, the non-leathal weapons inventor, the Disco boys!) but the movie is slowly ageing.
Rating: 5 /10

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)

	Also Known As: Verblendung (Germany), Män som hatar kvinnor (original)
	Year of first release: 2009
	Director: Niels Arden Oplev
	Actors: Michael Nyqvist (Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol), Noomi Rapace (Prometheus)
	Country: D, DK, N, S
	Genre: Polar, Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 10/12.12.2012, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: Awaiting for a stay in prison, the editor of a political newspaper (Nyquist) is hired by the head of a powerful family to investigate the dissapearance of his niece 40 years before. An outcast young female hacker follows his tracks.
Review: I know several people who have seen the three Swedish movies that compose this adaptation of the acclaimed Stieg Larsson novels, and even though they have different tastes and sensibilities, they all told me they were very good. Each of the three movies is composed of two parts of one and a half hour, and the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is the first movie. What I liked most about this movie is its slow pace, and that you don't really know where it is going. Actually when it started to be more clear, I started to loose interest. But until then, it is an intense investigation movie, very well played and in which you recognize the usual qualities of the Nordic cinema. The very first scene (camera following an outcast character walking in an urban area) immediately reminded me of Pusher by Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive). What could be seen as a weakness is that the movie sometimes looks like a TV-film (which it was at first), but when it does it actually reminds me of the Rigel TV-series by Lars Von Trier (a.k.a. Kingdom Hospital, later remade by Stephen King), which is not a poor reference. The investigation around an apparently innocent girl in a rural little town reminds of Twin Peaks, and to a lesser extent to the Giallo/Thriller What have you done to Solange? I didn't give it a higher ranking because of the ending, slightly dissapointing to me compared to the rest of the movie. I am looking forward to watching the following movies nonetheless!
Rating: 7 /10

The Green Hornet (2011)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2011
	Director: Michel Gondry (Human Nature, The Science of Sleep, Be Kind Rewind)
	Actors: Seth Rogen (Zack & Miri make a Porno), Jay Chou, Christoph Waltz (Inglorious Basterds), Cameron Diaz (Charlie's Angels 1-2, There's something about Mary), Edward James Olmos (Battlestar Galactica), Edward Furlong (Terminator 2), James Franco (Spiderman 1-3)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Action, Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 09.12.2012, HD VOD, Home cinema
Synopsis: The lazy son of a millionnaire inherits a renouned newspaper when his father dies. He will team up with a coffee-maker, car-fixer Martial Arts expert to fight Crime.
Review: This improbable team of a real action hero and a useless uneducated silly rich party dude (only here to provide the money) is obviously a good source for comedy. The baseline story adapted from a Comic book series is quite original in the contemporary landscape of super-hero movies, and is closer to a Kick-Ass or Super than to a Batman, although the latter has some influence on it. In overall it is not as bad as I thought it would be, given the catastrophic reception by both the public and the critics when it was released. I was expecting something at least visually interesting from director Michel Gondry, and I got it. Beyond that, the story is indeed sometimes chaotic and confused, the reactions of the characters unbelievable and towards the end it becomes "du grand n'importe quoi", i.e. pure nonsense. But it is still interesting once you accept that you are watching a Comic book transposed to live action.
Rating: 5 /10

Le Mans (1971)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1971
	Director: Lee H. Katzin
	Actors: Steve McQueen (Sand Pebbles, Bullitt, The Great Escape), Siegfried Rauch, Elga Andersen, Louise Edlind
	Country: USA
	Genre: Action, Documentary
	Conditions of visioning: 05.12.2012, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: Michael Delaney (McQueen) is back on the circuit of the famous race of the 24 hours of Le Mans, one years after being involved in a deadly acident.
Review: This movie is 40 years old and I had never seen it. It is difficult to categorize as it was mostly shot during the Le Mans race of 1970, so there is a strong documentary feel to it, which was actually wanted by McQueen as I learned when watching the making-off. I was most impressed by the realism of the car race, and not surprised that it has been well prepared during the 1969 race. The crew actually managed to mount cameras on real race cars, entered them in the competition and at some point they were even in the top 10! The introduction of the character of Delaney is very well done and we understand all about him without a word being said by the main actors in the first 35 minutes of the movie! This is in particular quite typical of McQueen who preferred to convey feelings with one shot of his blue eyes rather than with many lines of dialogs. The introduction of the race is also well done by showing us all the activities revolving around it (police preparations, arrival of the spectators at the train station, organization of the parking places...), and the background (origin and rules) of the race is given by the commentator over the speakers, like if we were in the public. The tension then rises to the sound of an increasingly fast heartbeat until it becomes almost unbearable when the lights go green. Then the movie finds a different rythm, alternating between the race, character developement, accompanied with a very nice jazzy music. The down side of the movie is that the story is utterly simple, so much that it was a problem when the producers wanted to finish and sell the movie. But this doesn't bother me so much.
Rating: 8 /10

Seven psychopaths (2012)

	Also Known As: 7 Psychos
	Year of first release: 2012
	Director: Martin McDonagh (In Bruges)
	Actors: Sam Rockwell (Moon, Iron Man 2), Colin Farrell (Phone Both, Total Recall, Horrible Bosses), Christopher Walken (The Dead Zone, Wayne's World 2, Catch me if you can), Woody Harrelson (Natural Born Killers, EdTV), Olga Kurylenkoi (Quantum of Solace, Hitman, Max Payne), Tom Waits (Mystery Men)
	Country: GB
	Genre: Black Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 26.11.2012, Schauburg, OV
Synopsis: -
Review: The story is very original and the cut is very well done. Even if Colin Farrell's role is again quite boring, both Sam Rockwell and Christopher Walken have good roles and play them very well. The story telling to come to the number 7 and explain the title of the movie is also a good point. After In Bruges, it is another good writer and director that is getting better, Martin McDonagh.
Rating: 7 /10

Paul (2011)

	Also Known As: Paul, ein Alien auf der Flucht
	Year of first release: 2011
	Director: Greg Mottola (Superbad)
	Actors: Simon Pegg & Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz), Kristen Wiig, Jason Carroll Lynch, Jason Bateman (Horrible Bosses), Seth Rogen (Zack and Miri make a Porno)
	Country: GB, USA
	Genre: Comedy, SF
	Conditions of visioning: 22.11.2012, DVD, OV
Synopsis: Two British comic-book geeks traveling across the U.S. encounter an alien outside Area 51. From then on, they make their way with the alien, chased by the police and special services.
Review: The writer of Shaun of the dead continues having very good ideas for comedies. This time a cool alien speaking English, who likes humans and tries to help them. The special effects are there only to increase the comic effect. All along you have references to all the SF literature and movies. Until the end, there are surprises and some big names are present in the movie as well, which makes it really funny for SF fans. The actors play very good, in particular Jason Bateman and Simon Pegg.
Rating: 7 /10

Killing them softly (2012)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2012
	Director: Andrew Dominik
	Actors: Ray Liotta, Brad Pitt
	Country: USA
	Genre: Polar
	Conditions of visioning: 19.11.2012, Schauburg, OV
Synopsis: Three dumb guys who think they're smart rob a Mob protected card game, causing the local criminal economy to collapse. Brad Pitt plays the enforcer, hired to track them down and restore order.
Review: The originality of the movie and its only interesting thing is the parallelism of the story with the news on TV about the US president election. This reminds me a bit Good night, and good luck, by George Clooney. The idea is not bad, but the realisation is not. The movie tries sometime to make like Tarentino or Guy Ritchie, but misses everytime the right moments, rythms, etc. The story is not interesting. The story is cut for the role of Brad Pitt, but not to catch the viewer. The one very good scene is the last one, at a bar, where the contract killer played by Brad Pitt explains his customer that all the speeches about equality, about solidarity are bullshit, and comments "This guy wants to tell me we're living in a community? Don't make me laugh. I'm living in America, and in America you're on your own. America's not a country. It's just a business. Now fuckin' pay me. ".
Rating: 2 /10

Cloud atlas (2012)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2012
	Director: Tom Tykwer, Ansy and Lana Wachowski
	Actors: Tom Hanks, Hale Berry, Hugo Weaving, James d'Arcy
	Country: D, HK, SGP, USA
	Genre: SF
	Conditions of visioning: 18.11.2012, Schauburg, OV
Synopsis: An 1849 diary of an ocean voyage across the Pacific; letters from a composer to his friend; a thriller about a murder at a nuclear power plant; a farce about a publisher in a nursing home; a rebellious clone in futuristic Korea; and the tale of a tribe living in post-apocalyptic Hawaii. All the stories are linked together.
Review: The originality of the movie is to place on screen stories over time having something in common. This can be linked to the buddhistic topic of evanescence, but all the stories show a struggle between groups of rather good people against rather bad people and in each group people ready to switch sides, which sounds like the communist topic of class struggle. Anyway, stories are like independent movies. Therefore also different directors. The smooth transitions (the sound of the last scene on the image of the new one for a few seconds) increase the impression of linked worlds. Some actors performed specially well, being travestied or playing very different roles for instance. I did not read the book of David Mitchell, but now I am very curious.
Rating: 8 /10

Lore (2012)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2012
	Director: Cate Shortland
	Actors: Saskia Rosendahl
	Country: AUS, GB, D
	Genre: Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 18.11.2012, Cinema am Ostertor
Synopsis: As the Nazis loose the second world war,a group of children of a Nazi family has to cross Germany and be mixed with the population.
Review: The movie shows the destruction of the Nazi faith inside Lore, who has been educated as such. This destruction is at least in the eyes of the viewer, not necessarily real. The post-war is as absurd as the war itself. Other hates, other enemies, other friends, but the same absurdity in the acts. It is a rare movie focusing on the vision from the Nazi point of view, but not from any military. Saskia Rosendahl is very convincing as young Nazi ready to handle with the post-war crisis and shaked in her believes. There are not much dialogues and therefore the body and face have to speak more and do. The other actors were not at the same level, but it is for sure not easy. Great actress and good and original movie.
Rating: 8 /10

The 13th Warrior (1999)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1999
	Director: John McTiernan (Predator, Die Hard 1-3, The Hunt for Red October)
	Actors: Antonio Banderas (Desperado, The Mask of Zorro, Philadelphia), Vladimir Kulich, Dennis Storhøi, Omar Sharif (Doctor Jivago), Diane Venora (Heat)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Action, Adventure
	Conditions of visioning: 03.12.2012, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: An Arab poet and ambassador (Banderas) is fated to accompany twelve Vikings on a mission to save a northern kingdom from the attack of an ancient evil.
Review: There is a strange fascination from cinema lovers about this movie. Maybe because of its director and the unexpected place the movie took in his career. Indeed, before he was more known as the master of 90's Action movies (Predator, Die Hard...). Or maybe it is because of the uncommon story, based on a book by succesful author Michael Crichton (Jurassik Park, Twister, Sphere). I didn't have any special memory of it (only remembering the beginning and the end), but the release of this French Blu-ray was the chance to correct that! The Blu-ray is delivered in a nice black cardboard package, and with an interesting booklet relating the background of the movie and the conflicts when it went out. Note that this release is exclusive to France, and from what I understood the reason is that it is in this country that the movie was the most successful. The image quality is good but not great for a Blu-ray, but I agree this is not easy to look good for a movie so dark and showing many gray landscapes. What I prefered in the movie is the uncommon story. There is not so much action but instead you get to spend time and like the group of warriors, and appreciate the odd place the poet takes in it. Some scenes are very strong in this Historic movie, at the limit of Fantasy and sometimes even Heroic Fantasy (leaning towards Conan the Barbarian). I am not totally fond of the movie but I appreciate the originality and the efficient storytelling and filmmaking by director McT.
Rating: 7 /10