a5c7b9f00b Paris. 1830. In the heart of the town, Vidocq, a famous detective, disappeared as he fights the Alchemist, an assassin that he has been pursuing for a few months. His young biographer, Etienne Boisset, decides to have revenge on Vidocq's death and takes the investigation on… This movie is highly acclaimed by other users of IMDB. I found the story very confusing and -even worse- most story lines are not worked out properly, which is a basic requirement for a good movie.<br/><br/>I have made similar comments about other movies here at IMDB. A good story, properly worked out, is essential to me. In this case the movie still gets a 4 (out of 10) because of some good photography and the high quality of the (digital) images. Another strong point of criticism is that not only the story, but also the characters are not worked out as they should. Psychology and motives for the crimes remain as obscure as the atmosphere in which the story is set. I read that Vidocq really existed. Well, I would be highly interested to learn something about him. This movie failed to do so. There are some good effects, but there is nothing special about these any more. We can see them in almost every movie nowadays. For me the reasons for the commercial flop are obvious. 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.<br/><br/>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.<br/><br/>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.<br/><br/>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.<br/><br/>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.<br/><br/>VIDOCQ is a true masterpiece. More please !
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