Film Review: Vidocq (2001)

Based on Vidocq, it's easy to see why Hollywood thought Pitof, Vidocq's director, might be a good choice to helm Catwoman in 2004. Well, the world knows how that turned out. But don't let the wet furball on the carpet that was Catwoman stop you from seeing Vidocq. Vidocq was an actual, larger-than-life figure from nineteenth-century French history. He was a master criminial who then became the founder and head of the French police, and after leaving the police he became the world's first private detective. Not one to undersell his abilities, Vidocq called his detective agency the Bureau of Universal Intelligence.

This film is not a biopic, although it's amazing that no one has attempted such a film. This is a Vidocq story as might be imagined by Stan Lee. Things begin with Vidocq (played by Gerard Depardieu) brawling in a glassblowing factory with a mysterious figure wearing a voluminous cape and a mirrored mask. This is the Alchemist, a spectral terror who supposedly haunts Paris' grimmest arrondissements. Vidocq is killed by the Alchemist and the story switches to Etienne Boisset, a young journalist who wants to be Vidocq's biographer and is trying to find out what clues led Vidocq to the Alchemist. I'll draw a veil over the rest of the plot to avoid spoilers.

For a movie that feels and looks very much like a comic book (in the best sense of the term), Vidocq is solidly plotted. This isn't just an exercise in visual tricks and gratuitous action sequences. The basic concept is ridiculous, but its internal logic is flawless. What undoubtedly drew Hollywood's attention to Pitof is is his visual flair, which is on constant display. The film was the  first to be shot with digital equipment, and Pitof  jumps at the chance to use the new technology to create fantastical cityscapes and eye-catching landscapes. And the Alchemist is a damn cool villain, combining kung fu-ish moves with a serously sinister lair and a very nasty taste in young girls. The only flaw in the look of the film is Pitof's fondness for extreme closeups, which look like bad TV thanks to the (then) limitations of digital equipment. Even with that minor problem Vidocq is still outlandish fun. If you haven't had enough of cartoon superheroes and villains this summer, hunt this one down.

The trailer below is in French, but it gives a good idea of the look of the film, including the dodgy closeups.

Film Review: The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

A confession: I haven't liked any of the Batman films. It hasn't mattered if it was Tim Burton, Joel Schumacher or Christopher Nolan doing the directing, I've found all of them fatuous, overblown and dreary. It turns out, however, that TDKR is the least annoying of the bunch. That doesn't mean it's good, just that it doesn't commit any epic blunders. It's worst sin is that it's utterly pedestrian. It's not dull, but it's not exciting; it's not dumb, but it's not clever; and the acting is competent, but not gripping.

The major improvement in Nolan's third crack at Batman is that the speechifying has been cut way back. The previous film, The Dark Knight, was stuffed with tedious, stilted orations about morality, personal responsibility, yadda, yadda, yadda. Each of the major characters got the chance to yak it up, and each time one of them opened their mouth the film ground to a halt. If this film's been greatly improved by a decrease in pretentious chatter, it's a bit surprising to report that the action elements have become weaker. We get some generic fistfights between Bane (the villain du jour) and Batman, Catwoman roughs up some people, and that`s about it. The action set-piece is supposed to be a fight between hundreds of cops and an equal force of Bane`s henchmen, but the sequence is practically over before it begins and it isn`t filmed with any visual imagination. All of the action is accompanied by Hans Zimmer's hyper-bombastic soundtrack, which is scored exclusively for tea kettle drums and tubas, and sounds like a symphonic ode to dinosaur flatulence. On the plus side, the pacing is good and the special effects are seamless.

A strippergram girl on the Planet Adolescentia

The mega-success of Nolan`s Batman films has always struck me as a bit surprising. I think the main reason for it is that Nolan`s films appeal to the demographic that takes their comic books very, very seriously. For decades comics were only of interest to kids and teens. In 1977 Heavy Metal magazine appeared in North America and the ground rules in the comic book industry changed. Heavy Metal was a mix of sci-fi and fantasy comics, all of them featuring copious amounts of violence, nudity and  rough sex. Batman`s Marquis of Queensbury rules-violence and chaste lifestyle couldn`t compete with Heavy Metal, at least among teen readers. Heavy Metal (and its imitators) also pulled in adult male readers, and suddenly the superheroes of the Marvel and D.C. universes had to get dark, dirty and serious to keep up with Joneses. It`s from that point onwards that "serious" superhero comics became an obsession amongst precocious 12-year-olds and thirtysomethings suffering from arrested intellectual development. And that's exactly the demographic, I suspect, that appreciates Nolan's approach, which, according to the fans, adds psychological depth to the superhero genre. The comic book people have finally found a director who takes their hero (and their obsessions) as seriously as they do.