Arsène Lupin (2004)

one of my absolute favorites!

Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

Am I Missing Something?

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

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.

An average rating of 5 out of 10 for this movie is patently absurd. It may be too smart and elaborate for a mass audience, but based on the few votes (less than 900 at the time of this writing) it cannot have received very wide distribution. I believe posterity will be far kinder to this movie than the IMDb users have been thus far.I rented Arsène Lupin on DVD from Blockbuster, and I was engaged and engrossed from beginning to end. Actually, what made me want to see it was the IMDb genre description - a mix of Action, Adventure, Crime, Romance, Mystery and Comedy?! I loved mixed genres, so I thought this should be good! And I loved it. An interesting premise, cool martial arts action, unexpected developments, an immortal countess (!!) and lots of intrigues, set at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. Very classy, and very well produced in every way. I was thoroughly entertained. I have not read the books, but this movie makes me want to.My only complaints are that there was no explanation for Arsène's father being a bad guy. He had started out as Arsène's hero, on whose life Arsène modeled his own, and then his father turns out to be a traitor, with no explanation? Harumph! Also, I thought the countess was a mite too evil at the end. I mean, deliberately trying to set off World War I?! Why?! No explanation.However, the reason I rate this movie a 9 rather than just an 8, is that it finally - finally! - gives us a great role for Kristin Scott Thomas. She is a delight to behold in a role that is worthy of her. This is perhaps the only movie since The Tenth Man where she's had a prolonged, really great role. For that I thank whoever got her involved in this project.9 out of 10.

The gentleman thief is a classic idea. And one I'm very fond of.. so i was excited to see Maurice Leblanc's character brought to film.. Unfortunately it wasn't a great film. It's undoubtedly a tough story to tackle, and the film shows this - its too long and occasionally seems to find itself meandering in confusion trying to get back to the plot. Although i found the film overall quiet dull, the subject is excellent. There are many interesting characters, and its filled to the brim with intrigue! (and gentlemanly thievery). However occasionally i began to believe i was watching "Wild Wild West"... A french dubbed version that is. This film is easy watching intrigue fueled thriller with japes aplenty.. Nothing special.

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.