The Return of James Battle
The Return of James Battle
| 21 July 2004 (USA)
The Return of James Battle Trailers

James Bataille is in love. He attempts to stage an elaborate motorcycle stunt to impress the girl, but when it goes sour, he ends up in prison with a 133-year sentence. Bataille escapes from behind bars to make an appointment to fix the car of music biz tycoon, as well as watch the love of his life take part in the town's annual talent show.

Reviews
Stometer

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

... View More
Beanbioca

As Good As It Gets

... View More
AnhartLinkin

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

... View More
Bumpy Chip

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

... View More
udar55

That's a lot of halves! This is just your average sci-fi/musical/comedy/gore/action French film! A very bizarre mix of different things that doesn't completely gel but has some interesting moments. Jason Flyming and Vanessa Paradis (that's Mrs. Johnny Depp to you) star as two lovers who are being kept apart by a angry father in a dusty small town that is getting ready to run their annual talent show competition. Then aliens attack. You can tell the directors were trying to go for that "all out" approach like a Peter Jackson flick, but they never fully succeed. The singing dog is nice though. Benoît Poelvoorde (the hit-man from MAN BITES DOG) co-stars as a sleazy talent agent and perhaps gives the best performance.

... View More
johngalakdavis

I just want to put some positive words about this film on IMDb because I really love it. Maybe it's not a real horror film. It's maybe just a real comedy... But I think it's a funny love story. Characters look like they come from comics, very caricatured, they don't have to speak, you know why they are here. They are all very humouristic, especially the owner of Toby.The first time I watch it I didn't appreciate that much because shocked by the cut heads but quickly I wanted to watch another time and now I really like it.You should try the original version, no other way to appreciate!

... View More
tristan-57

Not the usual movie, it belongs to this kind of movie that you love or hate. I belong to the first category.Definitivly worth a try. Someones rightfully mentioned bad taste - been a long time i have not heard about that movie - and while the two movies are rather different, they both belongs to the comedy/horror genre.I found myself laughing a lot watching the movie, and being surprised every here and there by references i would have not expected to found (i'm not going to spoil but there are many). Benoit is just excellent as an abusing impresario and despite i found Vanessa acting not as good, she shines as a singer and the overall ambiance and story had hooked enough to come here to comment about it.While i think this movie deserve a notation around 7-8 i gave him a 10 to balance the love/hate effect that lead many to gave it a 1.

... View More
Marcos Muñoz (KalEl)

I discovered this picture at a surprise showing on 2004's Sitges Film Festival, and it was a very appealing surprise. As I was completely blank about what was I going to see, it all started strange (an astronaut? But then, no, this is not an astronaut story...), then the story started to develop in very familiar tones (to me, a Spanish viewer, it echoed a mix of Alex de la Iglesia, Santiago Segura and Karra Elejalde) with the sci-fi and horror touch slowly advancing as a secondary storyline. That was one of the best ideas for the movie: not making the fantastic part the main one, but showing how a very used cinema topic (the alien invasion) affected the everyday life of a lost in the swamp "village" (although it could have been any of your back country small villages, any Western country you live in). The end was strange (there is were I got the idea of Atomik Circus being perhaps an European comic book, because both the name and the ending is very typical of European short sci-fi comic books), but the Lovecraftian reference was bot inspired and unexpected, and I loved it. All in all, an 8 (some of the acting was a bit so-so), and an enjoyable movie.

... View More