Michel Vaillant Film

[Nordic]

He also did the 'Fifth Element' with Bruce Willis and Gary oldman & 'The messanger', staring Dustin Hoffman, about Joan of arc.

[cybersdorf]

Dustin Hoffman as Joan of Arc? Hmmm...

[gttouring]

Leon- nee 'the professional' (Jean Reno and a very young Natalie Portman)in the NorthAmerican markets, yes the Fifth Element (bruce willis and Mila jovovich), and the Messenger- the story of Joan of Arc(again with Mila)- good action filled very entertaining films, with neat scene tie ins
like the clock would say 10,9...and cut to a guy saying 8, 7 or someone would start a scream and something would blow up somewhere- neat details in his sights..

[Fab]

OK, mates, I saw it this afternoon.

What do you want, a full report, or just have I just to summarized ?

[ss_collins]

both please asap!!!

[Mal]

Originally posted by Aysedasi
OK, so as he is obviously your cimematic hero, consider me a philistine for a moment (or indefinitely, if you like ), what else has M. Besson done apart from annoy me intensely at Le Mans in 2002?

He did get two extra pit garages built so that two more cars can now run!

[Fab]

ss-collins asked, I do it ! If you prefer suspense, don't read this !!!

I wrote this during the movie on my PDA :
"Start with a dreadful accident : just the dream of MV’s mother
First part of the movie : a rally on ice, ridiculous
Cramer is stucked in his car at a checkpoint between two vaillantes : he claims for a vengeance
Prices ceremony of the rally in Canada, Cramer threaten the vaillante co-pilot
Vaillants’ Home, nice blue Zonda and Cobra
Story : same as the “13 at the start” comic book by Graton
Posh show to introduce the so-called concurrents of LM, with charity sales
Introducing a great brunette looking like Françoise Hardy young, she’s Leader’s daughter
All is fake, more an unrealistically thriller than a race movie
After 25’ : rally in Italy, much less impressive than the WRC, believe me !
Stock-car séance on the track (rally), death of David Wood, MV’s friend and copilot, the car has been pushed out by Cramer
Romance, burial, and so on
Introducing Wood’s wife, Julie, claming for vengeance and a wheel at LM
Leader’s practice at Magny-Cours (I think), false sounds !
Settings engine’s vibrations with a cup of coffee on the engine… doh !
Only young lads and top models
Pilots talking together from inside the cars, ridiculous !
Seems not tiring to drive ! Unrealistic sounds ! GT with judd’s sounds…
A Vaillante GT, don’t know what it is…
40’ : still no LM
I paid 7 € for that
MV giving lessons to Julie Wood : it’s not LM, but they pretend it is ! L
At night, a lap with closed eyes to show how he’s good at the wheel
The track is false, some shots on the Bugatti, no great LM
45’ : so-called PQ, forget the scrutenings ! Nobody in the GS, and the qualifications are on Friday before the race…
The Vaillante’s lorry comes on the track only this day : one of its tyres are shot by a Leader hit man (a blond woman), and goes in a pond ; cars are late for the qualifications, maybe be too late to be on the track at time !
They take the cars by the road (60 kms) and refuel in a gaz station. Lol
Some ridiculous sounds
On Friday, GS are empty… forget it !
Pedestrian pursuit on the track, cars around…
Ridiculous even for telly, ALL IS FAKE ! L
Brunette seducing Warson ; I’m sick…
MV’s father kidnapped by Leader’s team ; MV finding Warson in Brunette’s bed ; explanations...
Free practice on Saturday morning, nobody around the track, where are the British fans ?
60’ : race day, we had 10 seconds of reality ; I saw an Audi on the grid, reality pics are pixelized to show where they are
Heart beat �* la Mc Queen seance ! LoL
They inserted false cars in the grid ; we’re on the BUGATTI !!!
False sounds !
Only two or three real shots, the rest is pure
Wet race ! What ? We’re back in 2001 ?
Wet race on the Bugatti ! Doh !
Never saw that, forget Mc Queen and LM
70’ : first real sound of a Panoz
It’s a thriller, a bad one, not a film about LM
Romance, thriller, etc…
I’m bored, I spoiled 7 € for that ?
They say “A Jaguar is out”, and we see the Nighthawk’s MG !
80’ : I’m gonna barf
Oil leak on the Panoz, puncture on the Vaillante, dead heat or almost, 1969 bits the dust
Panoz dead 10 meters before the line, Vaillante wins for 1 inch
What a joke !"

End of the story...

[Fab]

I have to precise that I'm not a movie criticizer : it's just an LM's fan approach, not a cinema approach...

[Aysedasi]

Yes, after getting your text message Fab, I realised you were not impressed!

I shan't be bothering, quite frankly.......

[Fab]

Originally posted by Aysedasi
Yes, after getting your text message Fab, I realised you were not impressed!

I shan't be bothering, quite frankly.......

Yes, I was even more clear on my sms !

But I have to precise that some liked the movie on a french forum, so I may be not objective on my point of view, don't take it like something "sure"... but really, if you like LM... dodge it ! IMHO, as always...

[bernard b]

seen it too

my thoughts are more kind about this movie than Fab's


if you want to see a McQueen's kind of movie : GIVE UP, watch your videos instead.

Le Mans part comments.

We don't really see other cars than Vaillante and Leader.

Good parts (yes, there are some!) : the hawaiian tropic are here, some (good but short) inboard views, good sound.

My question would be : why, with so many pictures from Le Mans 2002, did they only keep so few? I mean, there are maybe only 5/10 minutes really shot there during the race ! THAT is a shame.

Basically, for those who know the comic strip and liked it, it has to be seen because it's a good likeness of it.
For those who don't, it's a good entertainment, but first forget you're a Le Mans lover.

Conclusions:
It's not a good Le Mans movie
It's a good entertainment movie
It's a real good Michel Vaillant movie

[PascaLM]

Thank you Fab and Bernard for having sacrified yourselves !
We will all save 7€ !
Imagine what this sum will represent in bottles of fine wines for the next 10Tenth meeting at LM 2004.

[E46]

So we need only to have Sylvester Stallone and this is "Driven 2" .

[Aysedasi]

I guess we all expected far too much of this. Well, to be quite honest, I didn't - I've been warning against the "Le Mans Fan" overoptimism for quite a long time......

As Bernard and Fab both say, take it as a fillum for entertainment, and nothing more.....

[bernard b]

Originally posted by gttouring
Leon- nee 'the professional' (Jean Reno and a very young Natalie Portman)in the NorthAmerican markets, yes the Fifth Element (bruce willis and Mila jovovich), and the Messenger- the story of Joan of Arc(again with Mila)- good action filled very entertaining films, with neat scene tie ins
like the clock would say 10,9...and cut to a guy saying 8, 7 or someone would start a scream and something would blow up somewhere- neat details in his sights..

another Besson movie, for me his best, is Nikita, staring Anne Parillaud and Tchéky Karyo. I really enjoyed this one.

[ss_collins]

In comparison to driven - which was so god awful we resorted to days of thunder (silly but great), how does this MV film do?

Having never read MV (so sue me!) whats the basis?

[rdjones]

Thanks for the review's guys, sounds like we are not missing much.......

[bernard b]

well, at least, there's a story (simplistic but ...) :

- MV and his mate Steve Warson are rally drivers. While racing at a Canada rally, they have a joke and both hinder their rival, Bob Cramer to hit the time control in times
-the next rally is in the Alps and Cramer planed his revenge: sabotage David Wood's fuel (one of the Vaillante driver). It slows him so much that Cramer overtakes him and pushes him down a river, where the car explodes and kills DW
-in the same time, Vaillante and Leader plan to race Le Mans, and Cramer is one or Leader's cars driver
-Ruth Wong, Leader's boss, is ready to everything to make Vaillante lose : she stops the Vaillante truck to be on the circuit, but they manage to bring the cars on time via a motorway!
-she goes on by kidnapping MV's father : Vaillante should lose the race or he'll die
-during the race, Vaillante are much faster than Leader, but they must stay back to save MV's father.
-MV discovers where his father is hidden, but can't go there : he's caught by Leader's guys and Ruth obliges him to drive a Leader during the night, replacing B Cramer who hit a pigeon (!)
-Julie Wood, wife of David and MV's team mate, who drives the Vaillante at that time, hit this Leader and pushes it to accident, but she crashes too
-both are safe and go with SW to free MV's father
-when they come back to the track, Leader is 1st but the Vaillante is 2nd and pushes hard
-last lap : Vaillante has a puncture and must slow down. But Leader's engine is smoking, and it finally stops just before the line, while the Vaillante arrives (Slowly, with it's puncture)
-and the Vaillante wins (surprising, isn't it?) with MV at the wheel (but he's not supposed to, his car crashed before)
-podium, champagne (they should bring that at Le Mans BTW) and everybody's happy!!

End Credits. (didn't read it, maybe I should have)

[PascaLM]

Originally posted by bernard b
Conclusions:
It's not a good Le Mans movie
It's a good entertainment movie
It's a real good Michel Vaillant movie

This morning, a radio report told that it's rather a movie for young spectators, readers of Michel Vaillant albums. Do you think the movie is made for youngest people ?

[kdr]

heres an idea for a film...

bloke gets out of car and remembers an accident a year ago.

lots of people get off train and play boules

star says nothing for first 45 minutes

clock ticks and a flag drops

cool cars do 240mph

one minute its cloudy, next minute the suns shining

car crashes in slow motion

another car crashes in slow motion

german gets dumped in favour of star

italians get a puncture

last lap goes on forever

cool car wins

the end.

i love it!!!

[rdjones]

Originally posted by kdr
heres an idea for a film...

bloke gets out of car and remembers an accident a year ago.

lots of people get off train and play boules

star says nothing for first 45 minutes

clock ticks and a flag drops

cool cars do 240mph

one minute its cloudy, next minute the suns shining

car crashes in slow motion

another car crashes in slow motion

german gets dumped in favour of star

italians get a puncture

last lap goes on forever

cool car wins

the end.

i love it!!!

Like the sound of that, hang on it sounds like something I have seen before.....

[cybersdorf]

Originally posted by bernard b
[B]- MV and his mate Steve Warson are rally drivers.

No they are not!

I have a hunch this movie is not for fans of the Michel Vaillant comic books. Graton & Co. have over decades decades established these characters and created a "universe" around them in the comic books, why tamper with them now? Imagine a Batman movie where suddenly a Mrs. Batman pops up as if she's always been there. Or they turn Bruce Wayne into a real estate agent from British Columbia. What's the point?

If you make a movie based on a comic book (or any book), why not take the characters as they are and create a new story for them? Annoying.

[Muzza]

Looks like Besson made a sequel to "Driven"...

[bernard b]

Originally posted by cybersdorf
No they are not!

I have a hunch this movie is not for fans of the Michel Vaillant comic books. Graton & Co. have over decades decades established these characters and created a "universe" around them in the comic books, why tamper with them now? (...) If you make a movie based on a comic book (or any book), why not take the characters as they are and create a new story for them? Annoying.

the fact is I never said they were ONLY rally driver. Maybe they race F1 championship or ALMS, or both, or other series (even maybe GRANDAM): it's likely, but not said.
If you think this movie is not for the fans of Michel Vaillant, you're completely wrong. The story itself is based on several books and the characters are very accurate from what Graton created.
If you like the comic strips, see the movie and you won't be dissapointed by the universe: very "Graton style", even too much sometimes
and anyway, I don't think anyone should have a definitive point of view before actually seeing it

it's certainly not the greatest movie on earth (far from that) but I probably see it again because I like the Vaillant stories

[Fab]

It's a good thing you had a better report than mine by Bernard here ; I was eally disapointed by the fact that we had so few about LM in the film, but it's a moronic note : this is definitely not an LM movie.

I didn't like it, it doesn't mean it's a bad movie ; I didn't have an open mind to see it, I think.

I'm too materialistic for it : the film is too far from reality, for me only ! i think you could have a good moment in watching it, if you're more open thatn me, that's all.

And for Cy, I confirm bernard's opinion : it's definitely close from the comic. I still prefer the old ones, the more recent comics (80' and 90') are not "naive" enough, trying to be closer from the F1 world. Well, I'm getting old, that's all !

BTW, it's not a Besson's movie... can't remember the name of the director, but that's not him.