I rate this a SEVEN because the film is highly entertaining.
The apartment fight scene with Reda is fantastic, and the mood of the film is somber. One feels drawn into the mystery of where it is going.
But the reviewer on the main page has truly nailed the flaws of this film. What is this demonizing of religion all about? The Catholic Church has a far greater role in French society than in the US, and therefore appears more prominently in this film than in say an American flavor of it. In America, the hooded priest hooligans/angels of death would have been laughable. The attention paid to the Jesus-look-alike in the direction of the film is clearly reverential, to add to the legend of the "last days" theme. But this handling truly reveals a deep divide between American and French audiences.
Then appears the sinister German relic in Christopher Lee, survivor of WWII, and even the Maginot line must echo they echo of German/French antipathy. He holds a secret in the mysterious order; so, subliminal message, the Catholic Church is co-opted by Nazis--the Vatican could NOT have been pleased. As the reviewer on the main page notes, the ending is outright theft of concept from Indiana Jones.
The first Crimson Rivers ends in a muddled pool of pre-sentient Christian/Catholic dogma; Empire of the Wolves, while very good, refuses to take on the real Turkish threat, but instead pursues "right wing Turks" who trade in women, drugs, and train terrorists--right and left wing Turks? Hello, Islamists, which are they? The only French Reno film I have seen that is devoid of this French PC/Religious fear/animus is WASABI. Wasabi is a wonderfully funny film, and well worth seeing.
Angels of the Apolcalypse is very entertaining, but comes whimpering to fin.
The apartment fight scene with Reda is fantastic, and the mood of the film is somber. One feels drawn into the mystery of where it is going.
But the reviewer on the main page has truly nailed the flaws of this film. What is this demonizing of religion all about? The Catholic Church has a far greater role in French society than in the US, and therefore appears more prominently in this film than in say an American flavor of it. In America, the hooded priest hooligans/angels of death would have been laughable. The attention paid to the Jesus-look-alike in the direction of the film is clearly reverential, to add to the legend of the "last days" theme. But this handling truly reveals a deep divide between American and French audiences.
Then appears the sinister German relic in Christopher Lee, survivor of WWII, and even the Maginot line must echo they echo of German/French antipathy. He holds a secret in the mysterious order; so, subliminal message, the Catholic Church is co-opted by Nazis--the Vatican could NOT have been pleased. As the reviewer on the main page notes, the ending is outright theft of concept from Indiana Jones.
The first Crimson Rivers ends in a muddled pool of pre-sentient Christian/Catholic dogma; Empire of the Wolves, while very good, refuses to take on the real Turkish threat, but instead pursues "right wing Turks" who trade in women, drugs, and train terrorists--right and left wing Turks? Hello, Islamists, which are they? The only French Reno film I have seen that is devoid of this French PC/Religious fear/animus is WASABI. Wasabi is a wonderfully funny film, and well worth seeing.
Angels of the Apolcalypse is very entertaining, but comes whimpering to fin.