Michel Vaillant

Plot synopsis:
For decades, the Vaillant family has been successfully involved in various kinds of motor racing competitions. Their most notorious driver is Michel, the son of the team's founder and owner Henri and younger brother of Jean-Pierre, the team's manager. One night, Michel's mother Elizabeth has a nightmare involving his death in an accident at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, racing against a car bearing the number 13 from Leader, a team with which the Vaillants had a historic rivalry for more than a quarter of a century. Henri conforts her, assuring that they are not planning to race at Le Mans, that Leader has been out of competition for 5 years and that no one has ever used the number 13 at the race. Meanwhile, in Canada, Michel and his best friend and teammate Steve Warson are both competing in WRC cars. Michel's victory spikes the wrath of Bob Cramer, a ruthless competing driver who is blocked by Vaillant's cars during the race. Cramer ends up threatening Michel's co-pilot, David. A few days later, Henri announces that Vaillant will have an engine at time for Le Mans, and promotes David to the driver's seat at the Rally of Italy, promising him a seat at Michel's car in the 24 hour race if he does well. In Italy, Cramer forces David out of the road, causing him to crash. David is caught in the car's explosion and dies. At the funeral, Michel meets Julie Wood, David's wife. She asks him for his husband's place at Le Mans, and Michel convinces his brother to let her on the team. Meanwhile, the Leader team returns to the competition, by the hand of Ruth, Leader's daughter. They announce that they will race at Le Mans with the number 13, hiring Bob Cramer as one of the drivers. Élisabeth worries that her nightmare can become a reality and tries to dissuade Henri from competing, but he refuses to do so. The weekend at Le Mans starts, and Ruth is determined to stop Vaillant from winning, so she sabotages the car delivery. The Vaillants barely make it on time to compete. This doesn't stop Ruth, and she kidnaps Henri, threatening to kill him if his team wins. Michel initially complies, losing a lot of time each lap. He finally tells Jean-Pierre about Ruth's plan and decides to go and save his father, asking Julie to pose as him during the race. Michel tracks his father's location through the GPS in Ruth's car, but she finds him. Michel is forced by Ruth to drive the Leader, posing as Bob Cramer after an accident puts him out of competition. Ruth and Michel find each other on the track and end up colliding violently, just like in Élisabeth's nightmare. Even though the crash was horrific, they both come out of the wreckage unharmed, and Michel goes with Steve and Julie to rescue Henri from Ruth's henchmen, who start shooting as they flee and injure Steve. The race ends with Steve's Vaillant crossing the line with a flat tire, inches before Leader's car, which had an engine failure and is being pushed by its driver. Unbeknownst to everyone, Michel was posing as Steve in the final laps. They all celebrate yet another Vaillant victory, while Ruth stares blankly in defeat.

Tags: revenge, murder, violence

Review:
It's funny how much this movie is hated and bashed by mainly the French speaking people and critics for whom Michel Vaillant is a real icon figure, while in the rest of Europe and outside of it, this movie is regarded as a good movie!
It are mainly the people who grew up with the comic books that saw and hated this movie, hence the low rating on IMDb.com.
But for those who aren't familiar with the comic books this movie is a fun watching pleasure and very well worth seeing.
I'm sure when the movie gets more world widely released, the rating will go up as well, something this movie really deserves.This movie is a great example of how a movie based on a comic book should be.
The movie is very stylish and uses some great camera positions and editing (even though at times the editing is very sloppy)Granted that the story is absolutely unbelievable and dumb but in this case I had no problems or what so ever with it.
Keep in mind that this movie is based on comic books, so if you expect any reality or logic, this movie might not be your kind of thing.
Just sit back and enjoy and don't think too much about the story.Of course the best things about the movie are the races.
The races are really spectacular and should get your adrenaline flowing.I certainly wouldn't mind seeing more Michel Vaillant movies being made!8/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/.
See it for the sheer pleasure of seeing a racing competition and a great display of technical achievements, and you won't come out disappointed.
What's left is a movie with some pretty girls, very nice cars and some good action sequences.
Well, the movie is very well made, personally I like the car racing world, and you can see in the movie that Luc Besson is fan of cars.
The script is very simple, is based on a comic, and it's not really very original, but the effects, and the way that frames were took made the movie interesting.
Don't expect a kind of stuff like "the fast and the Furious" or "taxi" because the movie doesn't try to be spectacular , it trys more to find quality images.
The rate I gave to the movie is a 7, and i find that the actual rate 4.5 is not enough.(If you have played to Pro Race Driver or went to karting you will enjoy more ;))..
I never read any Michel Vaillant comic book.
Maybe this is the reason why I found this film so great: the sound of roaring cars, the pictures of the silent sky, slow motion on details, expressive colours and a thrilling plot.
I truly believe after watching this film in its original French release that this is without a doubt the best Racing film ever, and probably will remain so for a very long time.
Not since Wong Kar Wai's "Ashes of Time" has a film been able to stun me with it's flawless shot composition, breath taking cinematography and frame accurate editing.
All I have to say are two things; first this ain't a suspense thriller or political drama its a RACING MOVIE so don't expect "The Sixth Sense", second if your a real film enthusiast or anybody who respects a directors work, you would never lower yourself to watching a dubbed film.
First thing that comes to mind when your watching this movie is STYLE, whats a decent racing movie without style to back it up.
The shots in this film some of most breath taking you'll ever see, things like a butterfly flapping its wings as the cars are about to take off, and Michel Vaillant sitting in a room filled with rotating fans as he contemplates the death of his friend.
This is one of the few commercial film directors out there who seems to understand the concept of using artistic cut aways and beautiful inserts in juxtaposition to actual story shots in order the give a film flare.
The directors use of music and non story oriented shots such as the cutaways to the clear open skies, or the rippling of a cup of coffee, or a drop of rain falling onto someone's shades really help to elevate this films worth.An finally this film has some of most incredible racing sequences ever caught on film from virtually every angle you can ever imagine in virtually every atmosphere you can think of.
Oh and the actors and actresses in this film are how should I say too cool almost like everyone's straight out of GQ magazine which may be bad for other films but really works for this film cause it really helps to build up that Racing mystique of beautiful cars and beautiful people.
The scenes with the cars are spectacular and that's the only good thing about this movie..
For any car enthusiast this movie is a real pain to watch.
I did not expect a documentary but at least some fast driving, good acting and some base in the real world.I read on the back of the cover that Luc Besson had a 200.000.000 Kr(!).
Bad acting, bad sound, bad story, bad plot, bad music, bad directing,...The actual racing was never realistic or fun to watch as in some real movies about cars.
This movie is for guys who like speed and good cars!.
First of all - all actresses are look like models and all actors are like from Men's Health magazine, so why don't like it?Seriously, almost all scenes shot with macro lens, and in some point of time you feel like you are in the movie or in the driver's cabin!Nature scenes are so beautiful and fantastically looking that only rude and not romantic persons wouldn't like it.I don't get other's comments about dubbing and acting and all that stuff, I watched it in Russian and like it, so it's not the director's fault and responsibility to translate.And guys, what you expect from action movie - how the actors suppose to play there?
Common, it's not a drama or something you don't have to make intriguing stories and unpredictable thrillers - it's just a good looking movie, watch and relax.I can rate it at least 8 out of 10.
During my teenage years I was a fan of the Michel Vaillant-comics.
The only thing this movie has to offer are a few decently filmed race scenes (the ones in the mountains).
Simple, they wanted to sell the film to an international (read English-speaking) audience.
Considering all the disasters when comic books are turned into movies,this one is not a complete failure .The beginning (Mrs Vaillant's nightmare) was taken from "Le 13 Est Au Départ"and all those who read the comics (Jean Graton created his character in "Tintin" in 1957)will like the Vaillant 's desirable mansion,their Moulinsart (Marlinspike) ,La Jonquière .Julie Wood appears but she is not Steve Warson's fiancée ;so does Gabrielle who is Yves 's wife (Yves who appeared very early in the series -"Route De Nuit" - is absent) in the comics .When they made a TV miniseries (13 episodes) in the sixties,they hired a professional racing driver (Henri Grandsire ,who sadly did not resemble Michel);here we have Sagamore Stevenin (Jean -François 's son)and Diane Kruger ,whose Julie is not a motocross star but a racer too;it takes a lot of imagination to believe they belong to the racing circuits;as for poor Steve Warson ,the actor does not look like the part ,being too short,too gentle ;this character was an orphan ,which explains he was a loudmouth when he met the hero who enjoyed a big family (Michel's parents,his brother Jean Pierre and sister-in-law Agnès who have got a daughter unknown to the readers!,all of whom appear);on the other hand ,Michel is not a married man -his wife Françoise is not in the movie- and he seems in love with Julie);as an user pointed out,what a mix-up!
Michel Vaillant is an incredible, artistic visual feast of a film.
The second being raw journalism, the kind of filming you'd expect if watching a car race on television and the third being incredibly artistic, turning a single moment into several minutes, or using ultra-high contrast grainy photography to convey mood and emotion.
It appears they filmed him doing his lines in English and then dubbed it over in bad French.
I would have been nice to have an actor who could have spoken a little better French, but it was not overly distracting to the film as a whole.
They were the dream of what a race car driver should look like, act like.
I cannot comment on the film's accuracy to the race world, but then again, it is a movie, adapted from a cartoon and to that end, it is phenomenal..
An action movie formatted to market requirements.Rare are the successful adaptations in this period and even more rare and interesting films on the motor sport.
The action is very exaggerated and grotesque compared to the mind of the comics.On the technical side of the film is doing very well and creates its own identity.
But despite some nice pictures, they are nevertheless far too artificial and the blue tone is annoying.Efforts are inconsistent: as shown by Valliant Rally cars, which are cars with a famous French manufacturer with three stickers and veryfew modifications compared to the shooting of the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the establishment and listing of official teams for the shooting.Although the brands through sponsorship are omnipresent in motor sport, here are the brand placements are too much compared to the plot, so that we seem to attend a series of commercials.Besides the character of Cramer (the leader driver) starring Francis Levantal, the characters are too caricatured and despite the presence of Diane Kruger.For the motor sport amateurs and the more knowledgeable is always nice to see the screen elements of motor sports, such as circuits with" Magny-Cours"," Le Mans" or the "le Mas du clos" where the training is pleasant.A movie formatted, the law of the market here is what inspires this film.What a shame!
Check your expectations before watching this movie.
Great cinematography, slick cutting, good capturing of the dynamics of car racing and the events on and around a race track.
While this movie is not a major Hollywood production, the director did a tremendous job on blending narrative and real imagery from an actual event, the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans 2002.Years ago, I read a few of Michel Vaillant's adventures so I had a basic understanding of what this movie was about and of course, was keen to see this stuff being adapted.
And watching this movie, this is what you really need to keep in mind: It's an adaption of a comic strip which is mostly focused on telling a good action story and less on character development, pace of narration and the like.Some of the scenes are pasted together as they would have been in the comic strip, where subplots are sometimes told within 1-2 pictures.
I read some fans of the comic strip do hate the movie.
The plot comes up with a nice twist (SPOILER: Vaillant in place of Cramer trying to save his dad driving best he could, while Wood fighting him, thinking he's Cramer :)) and most arguably, a better script would have made more out of this.
Esp. Ruth Wong and partly Julie Wood (SPOILER: who acts like the Merry Widow after losing her man in a car accident.
Not sure if we will see another Vaillant movie.
As for the smoke coming out the front of the Leader: this is perfectly accurate as the Panoz LPM1 (aka "Leader") has it's engine in the front - one of the only racing prototypes at LeMans that does.Anyway, I found the movie really disappointing.
I was at LeMans 2002 when the two extra cars ran to film the sequences for this movie.
Lame story with far too many inaccuracies to make it it any way believable: no way anyone could run out onto the track (Odessa) and and and....They missed out completely on building up the atmosphere before the race and from the way it was filmed it looked like only the Vaillants and Leaders were racing.However, in Germany the DVD s well worth buying just for the additional material: making of and a series of complete laps of LeMans filmed from inside the Vaillant (Courage) and the Leader (Panoz).
I saw Michel Vaillant just one hour ago at TV and here is my verdict:TOP NOTCH: -the visual style, absolutely stunning, is the first thing what hit your eyes.
Also, because of so much action on the screen, the film has an essential quality: it's not boring.FLOPS: -unbelievable storyboard facts: the father kidnapped by Ruth Wong, a frustrated chick, and destined to death if his son, Michel, dare to win the race.
More, she's not an aggressive person and in race you're focused on your job, not to smash your competitor car.
-overacting: sorry to say, but Lisa Barbuscia (who play the Ruth Wong's character) appeared to be artificial and fake.Overall, a very good movie, worth not only a rental, but also to buy the DVD.
great race car action with a hint of suspenseful crime drama.
My expectations for this movie were to see familiar comic book characters come to live on-screen and to include great racing scenes.
I was a bit disappointed that it did not contain any formula 1 racing scenes which were the main focus in the comic series but I actually liked this movie quite a bit anyways.
I watched it in french and didn't understand much of the dialog, interesting enough all of the people in the Leader team spoke English which helped me understand more of the conversations.
Suspenseful racing action, sabotage, tragedy, love and crime drama: this movie combines it all in a fairly well-written story plot (I've seen worse).Having read almost all the comic books when I was a child I remember the characters well and for the most part the movie does them justice although I found several inconsistencies: Ruth was transformed from a caucasion woman with short blonde hair to an oriental with long dark hair(in the comic Ruth had an assistant who looked that way - I assume the director got confused???).
When you base a movie on a comic book series you should at least get the characters straight (can you imagine the uproar of fans if they would have changed the names of some of the characters in the Superman movies?)With Michel Vaillant they created a mishmash of story lines thrown together from different points in time (afterall the comic book series ran for several decades).
In my opinion the title character of Michel was a bit over the top, almost too cocky (he never would have done such an irresponsible thing like driving with his eyes closed in the comic books - KIDS DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME!!!) The cast was well-selected otherwise and it's not the actors' fault that the director and screenwriters didn't do their homework.
Even though the movie wasn't entirely believable, at least it was not cheesy like the animated series or live action TV series.
One must bear in mind that the movie IS based on a comic strip geared towards kids and therefore reflects that (I used to read some of the stories in a kids comic book collection called ZACK when I was a preteen).Update: I have now watched the German version of this movie and was able to understand the conversations.
Bottomline: If there ever is a sequel to this movie I sincerely hope that the people responsible will do a better job to stay true to the comic book series..
I read most of the comics of Michael Vaillant when I was a kid, and I think this movie captured the spirit of the comics.
The story could be better, but it was entertaining.However I noticed 3 things that in my opinion are errors:*Spoiler Warning*The scene with Vaillant driving around Le Mans Flat out with is eyes closed...
I think nobody have done it and nobody will because it's impossible.The scene Vaillant and Warson refuel their racing cars in a regular fuel pump, I might be wrong, But the fuel used in racing cars is a lot different from the one we refuel our cars.The final scene with the Leader car in the final lap in the straight blowing is engine, why is the smoke coming out in the front of the car when the engine is at the back?*End Spoiler Warning*If you are a racing fan you should see this movie, don't think much about the storyline and focus on some nice images of cars.
For non racing fans, I doubt they enjoy this movie..
I've seen this movie just a couple of days ago, and I must say that I have mixed feelings about his movie.I'm a huge fan of the Michel Vaillant comics, ever since I was still a kid.
In fact, I think that Michel Vaillant is partially responsible for the fact that I'm a complete car nut.However, the movie has disappointed me with the fact that they have taken various elements from different comic stories, and put them together in one new story.
For example, the dream sequence in the beginning of the movie is taken from the comic 'Number 13 on the starting line', the trick of blocking the doors of Cramer's rally car at the rally checkpoint is taken from 'The cursed Safari'.Another thing that bothered me was the sequence in wich Michel laps Le Mans with his eyes closed to impress Julie Wood.
The real Michel Vaillant would never show of like that.One last thing: the Le Mans 24 hours feels like a sprint race in this movie.