Plot
A man and his friends come up with an intricate and original plan to destroy two big weapons manufacturers.
Release Year: 2009
Rating: 7.2/10 (12,155 voted)
Critic's Score: 62/100
Director:
Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Stars: Dany Boon, André Dussollier, Nicolas Marié
Storyline Avid movie-watcher and video store clerk Bazil has had his life all but ruined by weapons of war. His father was killed by a landmine in Morocco and one fateful night a stray bullet from a nearby shootout embeds itself in his skull, leaving him on the verge of instantaneous death. Losing his job and his home, Bazil wanders the streets until he meets Slammer, a pardoned convict who introduces him to a band of eccentric junkyard dealers including Calculator, a math expert and statistician, Buster, a record-holder in human cannonball feats, Tiny Pete, an artistic craftsman of automatons, and Elastic Girl, a sassy contortionist. When chance reveals to Bazil the two weapons manufacturers responsible for building the instruments of his destruction, he constructs a complex scheme for revenge that his newfound family is all too happy to help set in motion.
Writers: Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Guillaume Laurant
Cast: Dany Boon
-
Bazil
André Dussollier
-
Nicolas Thibault de Fenouillet
Nicolas Marié
-
François Marconi
Jean-Pierre Marielle
-
Placard
Yolande Moreau
-
Tambouille
Julie Ferrier
-
La Môme Caoutchouc
Omar Sy
-
Remington
Dominique Pinon
-
Fracasse
Michel Crémadès
-
Petit Pierre
Marie-Julie Baup
-
Calculette
Urbain Cancelier
-
Le gardien de nuit de Marconi
Patrick Paroux
-
Gerbaud
Jean-Pierre Becker
-
Libarski
Stéphane Butet
-
Matéo
Philippe Girard
-
Gravier
Filming Locations: Colombes, Hauts-de-Seine, France
Box Office Details
Budget: €27,000,000
(estimated)
Opening Weekend: £182,529
(UK)
(28 February 2010)
(85 Screens)
Gross: $1,260,917
(USA)
(17 October 2010)
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia: Jean-Pierre Jeunet first came up with the idea for the film by visiting a local restaurant where some of the regulars were known arms dealers. Jeunet was intrigued by their "nice-looking faces".
Goofs:
Factual errors:
When the three goons roll their ammunition down a table to decide who will execute De Fenouillet, the rounds roll in a straight line. Since the three of them use 357 magnum revolvers, the rounds have a rim which would make them roll in an arc of a circle.
User Review
Visually grand, mentally transfixing
Rating: 9/10
When you think of revenge movies you generally picture a guy with a gun
taking a swift and direct action against everyone who has ever wronged
him. Guns are a theme here but not because our lead character, Bazil,
uses one to fight injustice but because two prominent French arms
dealers are responsible for his predicament. Bazil's father was killed
by a landmine and Bazil himself is unwittingly shot by a stray bullet
during a drive by shooting. Though he survives, the bullet remains in
his brain causing him regular discomfort and meaning that he might die
at any moment. This adds an underlying tension to the fairly subtle
story as Bazil, out of work with nowhere to live, finds comfort with a
group of fascinating sideshow style vagabonds who eventually become his
allies in his battle against the greed, murder and manipulation of
powerful arms dealers.
Aside from a truly riveting series of sly, witty and purposeful acts by
this band of revengers, the film is also striking in its beauty with
every scene presenting an intense array of colours fusing with
incredibly intricate and detailed backdrops. These prevail particularly
with the 'sideshow' who recycle scrap in to wonderful creations fresh
from a fifties cartoon short. At one point Bazil sees a segment of an
old cartoon where a character shoots another in the head. This depicts
the correlation between the real world here and an animated
fantasy-land with the epic and extremely clever revenge plan played out
in much the same way that Sylvester chases Tweetie Pie or Wyle E.Coyote
stalks Road Runner.
The films only fault is that sometimes is all almost too imaginative,
barely allowing the mind to recollect what has happened before twenty
or so other things occur, each steeped in a tranquil haze teasing the
viewer's eyes like a mirrored tunnel encompassing a silent disco.
Wonderfully indulgent movie, a treat for the eyes, ears, nose and mind.
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