The Return of James Battle (2004)

Very Cool!!!

Really Surprised!

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

The first must-see film of the year.

This movie is just about impossible to fit into a genre, and that's pretty much a good thing. If you've ever seen the Japanese movie Wild Zero (which is also awesome), then it kind of helps to understand this movie. It's a bit of absurd comedy, action/thriller, and horror. The great thing is how abruptly it transitions between the genres and yet still have it work.Any sort of breakdown of the plot would not really do it justice. The essential bit is a strange group of beings from another dimension invading a small town. But there's so much more in terms of sub plots and the film explores them just as much. The end is a bit of a let down, but the rest of the ride is just a ton of fun if for no other reason than it's so crazy.

Loser stuntman shows up at a Beef Pie Festival to jump 40 oil cans and falls in love with the organizers daughter. When the stunt goes wrong he's sent away for 130 years. Breaking out of prison he heads back to his lady love, just in time for the next Festival and an alien invasion.Quirky and one of a kind, this riff on the sort of films that started Peter Jackson on his road to the Oscars is a love it or hate it proposition. I damn near hate the film. No where near as good as anything Jackson ever turned out, its a game attempt at something different but falls as flat as road kill. Its odd and off beat for no real reason other than to be odd and off beat (all of the characters are "characters" and have little connection to reality). At times fitfully funny, often in a cruel way, this film just seems to just want to break taboos and be strange. There are numerous musical sequences, which while fine seem to go on too long. Worse I really didn't like anyone.The real reason to see the film is the aliens. Mostly seen as floating blips with tentacles, these are lean mean killing machines. Heads fly, blood splatters and bad jokes are cracked (I liked the conversation about how one victims face was sucked off). These are wild and wanton beasties and are almost worth the price of a rental. Unfortunately they really don't show up until the last half hour, by which point you may have turned off the movie and put on a Golden Girls rerun.I can't recommend this film to anyone except tolerant gore hounds and monster lovers who are advised to keep the remote handy for frequent fast forwarding. Everyone else is advised to rent a Peter Jackson film instead.3 out of 10 for the monsters and a few cruel jokes that work

This work could be the strongest contender for this title. It's incredible that the Poiraud brothers were able to find a bucketful of producers to finance their hare-brained project. Maybe because they feared to see where all the millions of Euros had gone, they didn't want to see the finished product before it opened in France in the summer 2004 and one could add in particular conditions. There were neither screenings for the specialized press in cinema nor trailers on the telly or at the movies. Personally, I remember very well when I went to see "Spider-Man 2" (2004) at the theaters. In the corridor leading to the room, I noticed a cover of the film but I didn't pay much attention at all about it. I didn't have the single inkling of the contents of the Poiraud's product. Anyway, their work was bound to disappear from the French theaters after a few weeks of screening. Commercial suicide in all its splendor which can be easily explained. How can you expect to make audiences flock to an amorphous story? At a pinch, the most curious ones might have been interested to have a look at it...I must admit that it's not that much bad. Okay, anyone who will label this movie as a masterwork will be a liar and at first sight one would like to hammer "Atomik Circus: Le Retour De James Bataille" and to relegate it to purgatory but there are some valuable plus sides one can save from this wreckage. About the title: is it a misnomer? Given the various ingredients the Poiraud brothers put in their dish, one could agree that it's a real circus they have concocted. And what about James Bataille? Actually, one doesn't see him for nearly the half of the movie. He has just a few lines to say and the moments during which he has the meatiest part of his role finds itself at the end of the movie, especially during a fight. It is funny when one knows that Bataille means "fight" in French.The outset of the film takes us to Skotlett, a lost dump where one wouldn't want to spend one's holidays populated with inhabitants with a redneck mentality. The tail end showcases a desert landscape which seems directly taken from "Planet of the Apes" (1968) or even a part of "Capricorn One" (1978), Peter Hyams' best effort. Between the two, two different subplots. On the one hand, Conchia (Vanessa Paradis) who is eager to take a chance in music. She's spotted by an unscrupulous manager Alan Chiasse (Benoît Poelvoorde) who's more interested in her look than her potential as an artist. On the other hand, James Bataille (Jason Fleyming) who strives to come back to Skotlett to find again her fiancée Conchia. Two conventional subplots which culminate with an invasion of aliens and it's virtually a rehash of the sci-fi of the fifties crossed with horror (there's blood galore and ripped bodies). If one plays the Poiraud brothers' game, if one accepts this unlikely mix of distinct cinematographic genres in a preposterous story, if one accepts this hustle of the narrative conventions, not taken seriously "Atomik Circus" is rather fun to watch. While reading the two subplots, one could detect something conventional in them but the directors try to thwart it through the unexpected like the alien invasion for instance. Also conventional is the final fight between Bataille and Chiasse transformed in an alien. You probably guessed the winner but the story isn't over and the predictable side of what follows is defused by an unexpected twist in the tail end.These qualities mustn't make the lover forget that there are negative points in the Poiraud brothers'UFO. First, problems of rhythm: sluggish at the outset but wild with the carnage caused by the aliens. Then, two-bit tricks to bridge some steps of the story are difficult to swallow and the Poiraud brothers aren't virtuosos of the camera at all. There is a lot of hand-held camera, an amateur side and sometimes they botch the job. Same remark for a scenario which is sometimes ill-conceived. (The first draft encompassed many other things which weren't tapped during the shooting).But if you're tired of walking safely in the landscape of French cinema, watch this mix of "Romeo and Juliet" and "Mars Attacks" (1996) as the press kit deemed it. It could have gained with a little more of attention and control. One last thing: the actors had fun by overplaying their characters who are real puppets. The cast includes Jean-Pierre Marielle who agreed to replace the sadly regretted Jean Yanne and I wonder what he would have done with his part. All of them said they really enjoyed the shooting and the vibe of the film and the set. You might also enjoy this film if you follow some of the possible instructions I mentioned earlier.

maybe later i'll chill out and be able to judge more objectively - but with a fresh impression of just seen movie - it is definitely the worst i have ever seen. and such an impression worths sharing. any plot doesn't exist at all acting appearances are absent. including that of Vanessa Paradis - the one actress who could rise expectations. as a fiction movie, it does not meet expectations of spectacularity (do i spell right?) it makes farce of all genres, referred to it: nor horror, neither sci-fi, comedy nor adventure. the film is not one of them, rather a grotesque of itself.may be for one exception of musical appearance of an original singer - and that's what gives to 'atomik circus' not a negative evaluation or 1(awful) but 2/10