Michel Vaillant (2003)

User Rating:

5.0/10   

Director:

Louis-Pascal Couvelaire

Writers:

Jean Graton (comic books) &
Philippe Graton (comic books) ...

Release Date:

19 November 2003 (Belgium)

Genre:

Action | Sport

Tagline:

No limit

Plot Keywords:

Car Accident | Pigeon | Le Mans | Stopwatch | Podium

Cast

Sagamore Stévenin	...	Michel Vaillant
Peter Youngblood Hills	...	Steve Warson
Diane Kruger	...	Julie Wood
Jean-Pierre Cassel	...	Henri Vaillant
Béatrice Agenin	...	Élisabeth Vaillant
Philippe Bas	...	Jean-Pierre Vaillant
Philippe Lellouche	...	José
Lisa Barbuscia	...	Ruth Wong
Jeanne Mauran	...	Odessa
François Levantal	...	Bob Cramer
Stéphane Metzger	...	Dan Hawkins
Scott Thrun	...	David Dougherty
Agathe de La Boulaye	...	Gabrielle Spangenberg
Stefano Cassetti	...	Giulio Cavallo
Alexandra Tiedemann	...	Agnès Vaillant

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

France

Language:

French | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital EX | DTS-ES

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Finland:K-11 | Germany:12 | France:U

Company:

Europa Corp.

Trivia:

The film was partly shot during the 24 Hours of Le Mans car race in June 2002. Event organizers added two cars to the field specifically to accommodate the filming but the production had to hire 6 professional drivers to drive the cars during the actual race.

Goofs:

Continuity: When David crashes, the side window on the driver's side is smashed. Just before the car explodes, the window can be seen intact.

Movie Connections:

Version of "Michel Vaillant" (1986)

Good entertainment!

It's funny how much this movie is hated and bashed by mainly the French speaking people and critics for whom Michel Vaillant is a real icon figure, while in the rest of Europe and outside of it, this movie is regarded as a good movie! It are mainly the people who grew up with the comic books that saw and hated this movie, hence the low rating on imbd.com. But for those who aren't familiar with the comic books this movie is a fun watching pleasure and very well worth seeing. I'm sure when the movie gets more world widely released, the rating will go up as well, something this movie really deserves.

This movie is a great example of how a movie based on a comic book should be. The movie is very stylish and uses some great camera positions and editing (even though at times the editing is very sloppy)

Granted that the story is absolutely unbelievable and dumb but in this case I had no problems or what so ever with it. Keep in mind that this movie is based on comic books, so if you expect any reality or logic, this movie might not be your kind of thing. Just sit back and enjoy and don't think too much about the story.

Of course the best things about the movie are the races. For a race lover this movie is a real must see. The races are really spectacular and should get your adrenaline flowing.

I certainly wouldn't mind seeing more Michel Vaillant movies being made!

8/10