Boring

A bit overrated, but still an amazing film

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

To me it looks like the director wasn't really sure what kind of movie he wanted to shoot. Sometimes it has some comic bits in it, like Lupins 'comic strip' movements or some well rehearsed one-on-one fights. But then he must have had some doubts as to what line to follow, because he started to use bits of splatter movie style, Indiana Jones adventure-archeology, historic drama, family tragedy and so on...then put everything in a big blender and press the mortal button. Mortal because what comes out of it is a shapeless blob of a movie with a story that has no head and no tail, and on top of that it's awfully looong too. positive: some good actingBeware: save your money and time

Maurice Leblanc means a lotof things to me: I've read all his novels .Strange how little by little,they became very mysterious with an extraordinary sense of wonder whereas the first books were simple detective stories.That Jean-Paul Salome who butchered Belphégor just a couple of years before can tackle one of the most original series of books of the genre can strike horror into your heart.And however,in spite of a very poor rating at my time of writing,I will say that it's not that much bad after all.The actors are generally well chosen ,particularly Scott-Thomas ,the ideal countess.And the cast includes such luminaries as Matthieu Carrière and Robin Renucci .And the budget-which does not guarantee quality anyway-is not exactly what you call low-.Showing Lupin's childhood is not very new:see The Saint and Indiana Jones for that matter,not to mention good old Sherlock Holmes.And what 's amazing,for a character and adventures that are French French French (not to say Norman )to the core ,we have often the strange feeling of watching a made-in -Hollywood movie.Anyone who knows Leblanc's books will notice that ,although Salome and his script writers adapted "La Comtesse de Cagliostro" ,they also borrowed from other books: "l'Aiguille Creuse" ,"Le Bouchon de Cristal" (Renucci's eye) ,"813" (the banker's name is none other than Kesselbach and the safe combination is of course 813!"and even "la Cagliostro Se Venge" which showed the son (Clarisse's and Arsene's) fighting against the father (Arsène).And other users will probably find other snatches taken from other Leblanc 's books.The screenplay becomes some kind of jumble in spite of Salome's good intentions and what was finally a good idea to use elements from other stories became a terrible mess. :for example,I cannot forgive Salome for botching the scene when Lupin visits the famous Etretat Aiguille Creuse(there's a Lupin museum there in that Etretat town).In the movie Beaumagnan is Lupin's father -which is very difficult to accept - whereas in the novel he was simply his rival.It seems that the writers found their inspiration in "Star Wars" ,and their fights on the lighthouse or on the Aiguille Creuse make me think of Luke and Darth .Too many things happen,and it's sometimes hard to catch up with the plot,which is most of the time complicated instead of complex .Leblanc's books are deceptive:it is hard to transfer them to the screen badly (and Salome's movie,I say it again,has qualities:splendid settings ,nods to the readers, a good tempo)while being harder still to transfer them well.Even such a veteran as Jacques Becker failed ;the TV series 1971-1974 were an absolute nadir.The best came in the late seventies/early eighties with the made-for -TV 'L'Ile aux Trente Cercueils" and "Arsène Lupin Joue et Perd (813)"with an infinitely lower budget than Salome's extravaganza.Entertaining movie,but we are still waiting for the MOvie which will do Leblanc justice.

Salomé's "Arsène Lupin" is a great divertissement. Definitely an update of the LeBlanc Lupin, with an eye on Monkey Punch's "Rupan San Se" (and Miyazaki's too, as Cagliostro's grand daughter is one of the characters. Salomé's (and Roman Duris') Lupin is _definitely_ the XXI century Lupin 1st, and in many ways it portrays the character as it should have been, rather than the Casanova softie of the seventies TV show interpreted by George Descrières.Yes, plenty of suspension of disbelief is needed, and there was enough material here to make at least two slower paced movies, which I would have personally preferred, and which would probably have happened with overseas budgets. And the plot does makes sense (well, most of the time) but it's not for everybody: some attention needs to be paid to the details. Of course this movie won't work in the US: the director does not remind all the time who the characters are with flashbacks and voice overs, so this practice excludes pretty much that 90% of US movie audience which seems to suffer from ADD. Oh, and the bad guy sets a disabled individual on fire and tosses him out of a window, which pretty much guarantees PC police censorship too.For all the Lupin aficionados, or for people who have just known the manga/anime interpretation of the (grandson) character, this is highly recommended (but you need to be able at least to read French, as that's the only language in the subtitles, which are also a little incomplete). Over 2 hours just packed with action and romance, and good music too.

I really had to laugh out loud at some of the complaints about this movie. It is really a mystery to me how someone paying attention to the movie could be confused by it? And while I admit indeed that there was more story and story twists in this movie, then in maybe 5 "great Hollywood productions" such as Spiderman put together...well, that's a part of the books, too! When reading a Lupin book it is never advisable to get used to things staying as they are! Arsene Lupin himself is one of the most dynamic characters that ever existed! I watched this movie at the Fantasy Film festival, and I enjoyed it immensely. So they took some story bits from different books, who cares? The story is nevertheless continuous and quite understandable, if one is ready to apply a bit more brainmatter to it than to ..say.."The Hulk"! The costuming and setting was splendid, and the whole tone was very fitting for the time in which it is supposed to play. Of cause no movie will ever truly incorporate all that is Arsene Lupin, it is simply impossible. Not just because of the different medium, but also because of the growing difference in thinking that characterizes the current time and the time in which it was written. The idea of a brilliant and gallant master thief itself will stay the same, but the habits, interaction with society's members and all that are so definite and important for Arsene Lupin, that leaving them in might confuse the mass audience, and leaving them out would destroy the Character. If anyone wants a Lupin for current times they may look for Lupin Sansei (supposed to be his grandson^^), and Simon Templar might be a sort of poor substitute, too. However, the original Arsene Lupin is a legend of his own time, and that description should make matters clear for anyone. oh, and the 9/10 is because indeed some of the effects were executed a bit poorly, especially the odd "zoom" at the aiguille creuse.