Vidocq (2001)
Directed by Pitof

Film Review

Definitely one for the Lara Croft generation.  Not so much a film as a spectacular collage of special effects loosely assembled into an implausible, incoherent storyline.  Whilst the film undoubtedly breaks new ground with its use of digital technology (made possible by the latest high-definition digital cameras), it fails spectacularly as a piece of cinema.  Anyone who is not put off by the excessively flashy special effects and the gratuitously visceral murders will most probably struggle to find any satisfaction in either the acting performances (which are at best uninspired) or the story (which would be an insult to the intelligence of a particularly retarded ten year old child).   In fact the film can only appeal to those who have next to no appreciation of the aesthetics of cinema and/or are addicted to seriously violent computer games (and consequently don't have much contact with the real world).  The film's director, Pitof, followed this with the even more risible Catwoman (2004), conclusive proof that special effects gurus rarely make the grade as serious film directors.

Film Synopsis

Paris in the 1830s.  It is whilst in pursuit of a mysterious criminal called the Alchemist that the celebrated detective Vidocq meets his death.  It is now up to Etienne Boisset, his devoted biographer, to unravel the circumstance of his demise and track down his killer.  He gets his first lead from the cop's dour associate, Nimier.  It seems that before he met his gruesome end in a glassblower's workshop, Vidocq was instructed by his superior, Lautrennes, to look into the brutal killing of three men Belmon, Lafitte and Veraldi.  These are all victims of the Alchemist, a man equipped with extraordinary malevolent powers.  From a seductive prostitute, Vidocq learned that the three murdered men belonged to a sect and supplied their killer with virgins for some diabolical purpose.  Realising they had been duped, the men turned against the Alchemist, and their reward for doing so was to be granted the most terrible of deaths...