Hey folks, Harry here with the rantings and ravings of Alexander DeLarge... No there is no relation to Alexandra DuPont.... He's just in love with her in a deeply cute way... But he's not here to sing the song of Soloman to Miss DuPont, but to rap harmonically about THE CRIMSON RIVERS starring Jean Reno.... thank god.... So let's hop onto it....
THE CRIMSON RIVERS (Les Rivieres Pourpres)
A review by Alexander DeLarge
Plot :
While following two different cases, two French detectives – one older and wiser, the other young and strong – find common leads in their investigations, revealing the truth behind a series of Dantesque murders, related with an elitist university that deals in which genetic manipulation takes place
Rant :
Just when we thought the serial killer genre didn’t have any new interesting stories to offer comes this gem from French cinema. Director Mathieu Kassovitz succeeds in creating an effective film noir, and gives Jean Reno a chance to show the great acting chops that some of the films he’s been involved with haven’t been able to provide him.
The film is entertaining, thought provoking, exquisitely filmed and strongly supported by the presence of it’s protagonists – Jean Reno and Vincent Cassel – but the final part of the movie doesn’t quite deliver, when the terrifying atmosphere is demolished by a series of incongruencies and Hollywood clichés.
It is also worth to mention that The Crimson Rivers manages to survive an incredibly goofy and out of place video game influenced/parody kung fu fight about 20 minutes into the movie, which is no small feat, in my opinion.
There is an obvious homage to David Fincher’s Se7en going on throughout the movie as well as a few shots that remind you of the disappointing Kiss The Girls, but while the film’s ending is nowhere near as effective as in Se7en, it does surpass the lack of surprise in the aforementioned Gary Fleder film.
My main problem with this movie is the ending. It is implausible, and just a bit short from being downright ridiculous. Even those engrossed by the build-up here are likely to kiss off the rest after suffering through the film’s groaner of a wrap-up. It’s a shame a well thought-out movie like this has to have such a lackluster ending. And although it is not as horribly obvious as the ending of Kiss The Girls, it is very shaky and it frankly challenges your will to stand through the conclusion.
However, the movie is worth taking a look at, just to marvel at the ingenious ways in which it keeps you expectant and strings you along down various different paths, until the very last moment (or to be exact, when it all crumbles). This is at the moment, the most intensely commercial movie to come from Mathieu Kassovitz and it’s backed by Thierry Arbogast´s brilliant cinematography; which by the way, makes a masterpiece out of the extremely disturbing opening credits sequence of the film just by it’s own.
The movie is quite twisted and graphically intense, in the same way Se7en was, so those who faint at the sight of blood (or rotting flesh for that matter) would do best to stay away from the film. Mostly everyone else who can overcome their initial reservations will be able to enjoy the movie and be throughly inmersed in it, and just maybe even frightened by it.
Alexander
