Let's be realistic.

Disturbing yet enthralling

it is the rare 'crazy' movie that actually has something to say.

I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.

I really enjoy movies based in the 70's such as Munich. Unfortunately it is not the case for Carlos.The cinematography lacks coverage -- lots of hand held and quick pans..or maybe it's in the editing? Edgar Ramirez needs strong supporting actors to back him up in order for him to shine as a lead man (He is no Benicio Del Toro in Che) He too often over acts quite a bit especially when speaking a foreign language.Here is a perfect example on how music can make or break a scene. On too many occasions the score/song used does not support or enhance the mood of the scene but instead it pulls you out and kills the moment.Good action scenes, gun fights, explosions etc. Unfortunately it is not enough to save this effort.

I once heard Solzhenitsyn described as a major nineteenth-century novelist writing in the late twentieth century. By that same logic, I would call this film a major French historical novel of the 1950s in the form of a film from the early twenty-first century about events in the 1970s through '90s. This five and a half hour history of the career of Carlos the Jackal is a top-tier example of old-school existentialist biography. There is no moralizing, no psychology- only choice, and the historical-social conditions that shape choice. On this basis alone do the film-makers, heroically in my opinion, offer their "judgement" of Carlos. I admit that there were times while watching this that the thought entered my head, "Why is this six hours long?" But the end brought it all together. The last scenes, depicting Carlos's last days of freedom in Sudan, are surprisingly moving. Only in this last hour (last minutes?) are we forced to acknowledge that we have spent so much time with Carlos and his friends/accomplices that we have (no matter what we "moralistically" make of them- devil, hero, or anywhere in between) come to care for them. The film is so long, we have spent such time in their company, that no matter what their life-choices they appear as human to us, and we empathize with them. The use of music in the film is brilliant. Until the Sudan section already mentioned, its all early '80's post-punk, which I found out of place in the early parts of the film, which take place in the pre-punk early 1970s. But as history moves forward it works brilliantly. Once Carlos makes his last stop in Africa the music switches to African death-dirges. Carlos is human. If we mourn for even him, we mourn for all of us.

i'm going to be brief since i think the other reviews of "carlos"already posted will give a good idea of the film's brilliance.i wanted to point out the genius use of music in this film-the post-punk songs specifically.as goes carlos down a road of egotism,gluttony and sloth so to does the the soundtrack mirror exactly how post-punk devolved from an idealistic,naive,and yes,somewhat innocent art form into a cold hearted mercenary whose original goals and beliefs had long since washed away into a sewer of profit margins,marketability and celebrity.it's no accident that the film opens with wire and closes with the lightning seeds.with a few changes this screenplay could very easily be re-packaged into the johnny rotten/john lydon story.the story of another man who thought the revolution was completely about himself...this is the best film of the past 5 years IMO.even better than mesrine,che and the baader-meinhof complex-3 other similarly structured historical bio-epics that are great films themselves,but not in "carlos" league.

I caught a glimpse of it on Sundance Channel here in the US and ended up watching the whole piece as a 3-episode series.Thanks to Sundance for showing it un-cut and un-edited, it really shows their respect for the efforts of film makers, and as an audience I really appreciate being able to watch it as the director intended it.Really love the story, you can tell Olivier Assayas did a really thorough job in his research. As many reviews said, it's historical facts+real news footage+some fictional imagination, but all of them combined made a great story.Only one small detail I found amusing: the actual event of the attack on OPEC in Vienna took place in December, but they must have filmed it in the summer because one can tell the city is so GREEN in the background; as someone who has lived in Vienna that was simply impossible in winter. But please don't get me wrong, this small detail does not change the fact that this is one of the best movies I've ever seen.