berberian00-276-69085 There are few things to be said here. This international co-production was meant to rival a Sherlock Holmes franchise - "Sherlock Holmes" (2009) and "Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows" (2011) with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law. The French Film "Arsene Lupin" (2004) had, however, faster post-production period and appeared first on the big screen. So much so, the arsenal that both protagonist use is almost the same and their literary fathers (Conan Doyle and Maurice LeBlanc) share equal popularity among their fans from the beginning of 20th century, before the Great War (World War I). Albeit, Arsen Lupin always ridiculed his adversary Sherlock Holmes and that resulted in court decision which made Maurice LeBlanc change the name to Herlock Sholmes or Holmlock Shears, an anagram and apparent one.The problematic stuff overall is whether you have read novels from Maurice LeBlanc or none. If you come from non-French speaking country as I do you have a problem. I watched this titular movie on DVD with French language and English subtitles. Presumingly, no English dubbed copy is available or simply I can't find it. Whatever, the Movie is quite watchable with good action pace and 3D effects. Not like the old versions which are theatrical pieces and quite moody. As to the original Maurice LeBlanc's novels you can catch as catch can. Wikipedia provides scanty resource on Arsen Lupin and his literary author - some biography data with summary plot of few novels. You can't even get idea who the principal characters are.Let's go to my country and review the translated books that I have used for main source. Most translations are from first half of last century, little bit outdated but re-edited and published with new covers. They look beautiful and handy but I doubt whether anyone reads them at all. Maurice LeBlanc is totally forgotten among the criminal establishment of 21st century. Young readers have seldom heard of Arsen Lupin and his author, or say "yes" because they watched the Movie in 2004. So what to comment, in the treasury throve of book collection one can find a gem of ideas where single sentence matters a lot. For instance, a replica on Bulgaria - "Those people are spies, coming from petty German Kingdom on the Balkans". End of quote.Finishing lines. Take an "Arsene Lupin Omnibus" published by Wordsworth Editions recently, provided with introduction and notes. Read it carefully and make your judgment on the issue. That's my recipe. Until then, beguile. So, so ...

Morad Elshehabi First of all, the 2 hours movie is enjoyable,, at least until the last hour.. Things start good ,, the build up,, the story line,, the characters.. all good. Then they stat the main adventure of the "treasure" thing! . Anyhow it keeps getting better.. then... then... all of the sudden, things change... and that's the second half. In the second half you don't know what the hell is happening! he loves this, then sleeps with that and loves her, she betray him, then not, then yes, then back to the first, then his father, then the treasure, then the woman, then the father, the witch, the crosses.. OMG .. it just kept going on and on!!! Every time you think this is the final scene they start a new thing, so there is a moment where you just don't give a damn about the story you just watch a twist after twist. No honestly, you will think the movie ended several time then!! Voilaaa.. it's on again!! That was crazy, enjoyable, fun yea.. but too much that I feel I got old now!!

qeinar The movie is pretty OK, good actors, the scenery is awesome, but the adaption of the Arsene Lupin novels are pretty damn bad. Having read most of them (still have some left..) I still have not read anything about magic in them, which the witch in this movie could use.. also their idea to mash in some of the Lupin stories into one film is just bad, mainly because all of them are very loosely represented in the movie.. Personally i think just making up a new Lupin story would have made a much much better movie.Also in the books Lupin's first robbery was the very same necklace, but with no mention of his dad, and also he later sent money for his still living mother for a long time.All in all if your doing a movie out of a book/story you should try and stay partly true to it, and don't mix in tons of elements which make no sense what so ever.. most of the Arsene Lupin stories are at a good length and are therefore suited for making into a movie series.(most of the stories are short and they would not have to cut out a lot of stuff as they usually do with bigger books..) A Arsene Lupin movie series or TV series is something i would definitely watch if they had stayed true to the stories of Maurice Leblanc.

Paolo B I just finished watching this on DVD (and a big telly) and I have to say that this was an excellent production, with very good acting. I watched this film dubbed in Italian and that allowed me to be totally absorbed in the film rather than trying to catch the subtitles at the same time as the fast moving action, because an action film is what we are talking about, not a period piece. It is a little far fetched at times but I guess it goes with the character but I thought Kristin Scott Thomas and Eva Green were excellent as usual and I was also impressed favourably by Romain Duris who played the main character and I didn't know. The music is also excellent and integral to the film. Lastly it contains some graphic violence so if you are very sensitive to blood be prepared. To sum things up, if you are looking for a serious period drama then maybe this is not for you but if you just want to be entertained then go for it, it's worth it.