As the daring thief Arsène Lupin (Duris) ransacks the homes of wealthy Parisians, the police, with a secret weapon in their arsenal, attempt to ferret him out. This is the worst treatment of the books I've ever seen ! It's tripe from start to finish, except for Kristin Scott Thomas' interpretation of the Cagliostro.<br/><br/>As someone who read all the books as a youngster, I can tell you they are much, much better than this. So was the French serial with Georges Descarrères (not sure of the last name).<br/><br/>Frankly, the only thing that disappointed me more was the French rendition of the Fantômas movies with Louis de Funès and Jean Marais, of all people! Don't bother watching this. Get the serial. You won't be sorry. Recap: Little Arsene grows up on a French mansion but both his father and mother is poor. It's the mothers sister that controls all the wealth. And one day, his father, a kick-box teacher, get accused of being a thief. He flees, and Arsene and his mother get thrown out. But not before Arsene's father passes his legacy, being a thief, and Arsene steals the family heirloom. From that day, Arsene's fate is set. He becomes a master thief and pick pocket. But suddenly he meets with his cousin, and he becomes tangled up in a complot to overthrow the republic. And above all, in the search for the hidden treasure of the royal family.<br/><br/>Comments: This is a very elegant movie, especially because it is stuffed with jewels from Cartier. But also because of the elegance of the character Arsene's gentleman ways of relieving the women of their jewelry.<br/><br/>It's a really nice story, a combined story of the elegant master thief and treasure hunt. Throw in some elements of something like magic and sorcery, and a few twists of the story and you got yourself a pretty good and entertaining movie.<br/><br/>Unfortunately the twists are a little too obvious a little too early to be really surprising, as intended. And the mystic sorcery parts doesn't quite fit with the rest of the story, and are never really explained. Also some of the main characters motives remain somewhat unclear, and that is never good.<br/><br/>Fortunately Romain Duris and Eva Green (in an early role) cast a spell over everything that almost cover these holes up. But it is only almost. They keep nagging at the edges in an otherwise solid and good movie experience.<br/><br/>7/10
Temptpheo replied
326 weeks ago