Arsène Lupin (2004)

The movie is pretty OK, good actors, the scenery is awesome, but the adaption of the Arsene Lupin novels are pretty damn bad. Having read most of them (still have some left..) I still have not read anything about magic in them, which the witch in this movie could use.. also their idea to mash in some of the Lupin stories into one film is just bad, mainly because all of them are very loosely represented in the movie.. Personally i think just making up a new Lupin story would have made a much much better movie.Also in the books Lupin's first robbery was the very same necklace, but with no mention of his dad, and also he later sent money for his still living mother for a long time.All in all if your doing a movie out of a book/story you should try and stay partly true to it, and don't mix in tons of elements which make no sense what so ever.. most of the Arsene Lupin stories are at a good length and are therefore suited for making into a movie series.(most of the stories are short and they would not have to cut out a lot of stuff as they usually do with bigger books..) A Arsene Lupin movie series or TV series is something i would definitely watch if they had stayed true to the stories of Maurice Leblanc.

To me it looks like the director wasn't really sure what kind of movie he wanted to shoot. Sometimes it has some comic bits in it, like Lupins 'comic strip' movements or some well rehearsed one-on-one fights. But then he must have had some doubts as to what line to follow, because he started to use bits of splatter movie style, Indiana Jones adventure-archeology, historic drama, family tragedy and so on...then put everything in a big blender and press the mortal button. Mortal because what comes out of it is a shapeless blob of a movie with a story that has no head and no tail, and on top of that it's awfully looong too. positive: some good actingBeware: save your money and time

I just finished watching this on DVD (and a big telly) and I have to say that this was an excellent production, with very good acting. I watched this film dubbed in Italian and that allowed me to be totally absorbed in the film rather than trying to catch the subtitles at the same time as the fast moving action, because an action film is what we are talking about, not a period piece. It is a little far fetched at times but I guess it goes with the character but I thought Kristin Scott Thomas and Eva Green were excellent as usual and I was also impressed favourably by Romain Duris who played the main character and I didn't know. The music is also excellent and integral to the film. Lastly it contains some graphic violence so if you are very sensitive to blood be prepared. To sum things up, if you are looking for a serious period drama then maybe this is not for you but if you just want to be entertained then go for it, it's worth it.

Might contain some spoilers.In this vehicle from 2004, we get after the movie Vidocq, we get the next hero from the old days. Arsene Lupin the French counterpart of the English gentleman thief Raffles, while Raffles adventures are limited Arsene had a long list of books they could film.This movie however took the road of an epic movie, it cuts through the life of Arsene to highlight one of his great adventures and thereby leaving out the portion what made the man so charming namely his gentleman thiefery adventures. Yes we get a little peak of a few episodes but mostly AL is busy not stealing in the most genial ways but having a grand adventure. Is the movie therefor less entertaining, no it is not as epic adventure stories go it is a nice and fun movie that uses this classic hero in a positive way. It fails to deliver the gentleman thief however, which is one of the reasons why I like the character.However the main character monsieur Lupin does strike me as a Vincent Cassel light, he does his job well enough but he's for me not powerful enough. Kristin Scott Thomas is besides a gorgeous woman also a devil in this movie, she gives the movie it's strength (bond villains have a look here how it's done). her part also gives the movie that fantasy aspect that does sit rather well in this story. Eva Green is a vision of loveliness so when the inevitable moment comes you really care.The movie moves in a decent enough pace, gives us a great and luscious view of old France with some great set pieces like Paris. Greatly filmed and delivers a nice enough epic movie that could have used a little less epic.I hope that the next movie is a we bit scaled down in size and centers more upon the character Lupin as a master Thief.And I am now actually looking forward to that moment that is bound to come when the French cinema has a new shot at Fantomas (French greatest villain ever). I feel that the popularity movies as Vidocq & Arsene Lupin will undoubtedly make way for this title.Perhaps it is time for the UK to dust of their epic hero's like Allan Quartermain (with a preferable SC) or Raffles.If you like any of the last suggestions make your nose tingle it is a sure sign you most probable going to enjoy Arsene Lupin. Enjoy, I did.