Impressive

Rating: 10/10 (3 August 2001)

Luc Besson provides another impressive effort, again in the sense of a slightly unconventional love story, centreing around 2 diving brothers and a New York girl. Jean Reno is statuesque as the brother who always assumes power and superiority (whilst seemingly knowing he may not be the better of the two) over his younger counterpart played by an equally capable Jean-Marc Barr. Thrown into all this is an airy Roseanna Arquette who gets her wits about her upon running into Barr as he prepares for a dive into icey waters, and immediately falls in love. Her character is perfect for this role, being so completely contrasting to the personality that Barr represents. To me his charcter was quite an enigma - we are never totally sure what he wants, although he is obviously leaning towards the life he is so used to - life by and in the sea. He is very resistant to change. Reno's role is slightly comedic and well played by the huge gangly figure.The music score is also worth a mention, as usual in Besson films it helps to create the whole marine feel and breathes atmosphere throughout the deep visuals. These are also worth a mention - the underwater scenes are very well crafted, and at the risk of repeating myself, very impressive. It all is, a wonderful couple of hours. If only this damn thing was available on video somewhere over here! Well deserved 10/10