Must See Movie...

A different way of telling a story

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

As this film Renegade is a western and based on a French comic strip I guess we can call it a Bouillebase western. All I can say is the western does not really lend itself to the French cinema. Then again I have a prejudice against westerns that are not North American that I freely admit.A lot of the arty touches are present in Renegade which stars Vincent Cassel as a New Orleans Cajun born lawman who after a killing in a bordello when he was a lad was raised by Chiracauhua Apaches who took him in. Stripped of all the arty pretense this film has it's just another western where gold fever strikes the whites and the gold is on Indian land.Just saw They Died With Their Boots On in anticipation of Olivia DeHavilland's 100th birthday. Same plot, nice acting, no pretense.

There was always a taste for the mystic in comic books, 'Blueberry' is a western derived from a comic book and that is a great starting point. It also tries to reach you on a spiritual level specially by showing hallucinations, reminding us of Stanley Kubrick's '2001'. But Jan Koonen should have followed Kubrick's style in what this film lacks the most: clearness, precision, well explained scenes. Instead you see vague and confusing scenes which makes you have to see the film again to understand it. Nowadays, this is not such a problem, but is it worth it? Vincent Cassel is an ideal Blueberry, Juliette Lewis is pretty, interesting and charming as Maria and Michael Madsen is a hateful Wall Blount. If Sergio Leone innovated by creating a showdown of three people in 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly' ,Koonen tries to shows us a spiritual, psychedelic showdown. It just does not reach us enough to make it worth seeing.

I must admit that while Jan Kounen made a movie like this, made it base on Blueberry comics, and names the movie 'Blueberry', he surely was asking for trouble. I do understand why many, or dare I say most of the Blueberry fans were riled when they saw the film. That is a shame, since Blueberry truly was and is a very beautiful film, not only visually but story-wise, too: to me, this is a haunting depiction of loosing and finding yourself, facing your inner demons and getting over it by becoming a better person.This movie might also offend and/or shake you, if your view of the world is very rational and materialistic. (This quick-analysis is based on the reactions of my friends after seeing the film, and on the image I have of them as persons. Not very scientific, but seems true. :) The film is very heavy on symbolism, and the narration of the plot is on the spiritual side, quite loaded with shamanistic views, but it is not just a fancy gimmick to mess with your head. Most of all, it's not a weakness in this film, but it's strength. There really is a big truth to be found underneath all the visual candy and mysterious notations. Just be patient and SEE it. ;)Apart from visuals and story, I loved Michael Madsen and his character in it. Blount was riddled with contradictions and filled with both mystique and madness, and the way he materialized it all on the screen with very minimalistic but intense gestures, mostly with his raspy voice. (Of course, you've seen him on screen doing mad things for dozens of times, but you have to admit, he's very good at what he's doing, right?)This could have been a full 10 out of 10 film to me, but I must drop few points from the score, for the film being a bit too long and confusing at times, both in a bad way. A little tightening up of the story here and there wouldn't have hurt the whole package. You might also like to criticize the film for being based _very_ loosely (from what I've heard) on the Blueberry comic books, but that's not my field of speciality, since it's been years since I've read even one Blueberry album, so I leave it for you to decide, whether the liberties taken are a good or bad thing.All in all, a must see for the fans of cinema. With open mind, it might give you a lot. If you like it, I'm sure you'll come back second time. I know I did, and will return again.This is my truth. What is yours?

Some people have said that there was a lack of drama or acting in this film. I disagree... I though all of the characters acted well in this film and do have character however because of the cinematic feel of the movie people who are easily distracted are watching the whoosh and not peoples faces. They are used to up close TV style of acting and this film has sequences where actors are set further back from the camera in complex moving scenes.Some of the camera-work including the sky-cam shots were so breathtaking they made me want to be that eagle and when you get to see a sky shot which zooms over the hills to show you where all the riding parties are moving I have never seen this done before and was such a great use of camera that I had to buy this movie for its technical excellence. Most movies imply locations by telling you where the other actors are... this movie flew you there and in a Western this is totally new use of this effect and made me feel that this was a Western brought totally up to date with the latest Cinematography.The 20minutes of CGI is again something never before seen in a Western. This follows on from similar use of such footage by the director in another production he did - worth checking out if you liked seeing the snakes and lizards and crocodiles etc... I've heard some people comment to me this was very much like a DMT trip experience. Flawless CGI... not looking tacky but organic and fluid reality. If the CGI had been off just one bit people would have trashed this movie to death. Testament to the fact that the CGI is untouchable and people will still be praising this movies CGI in 20 years time just as they did with special effects from 2001.... its up there with the greats. People hae been usint the visuals in clubs on video projectors... this must say something of how impacting it is.