GurlyIamBeach
Instant Favorite.
Taraparain
Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.
Teddie Blake
The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.
Rich Wright
I must confess... my low rating of this has to do with a similar plot (pre-teen girl who's life is in danger taken under the wing of a professional assassin) being much better utilised in Leon, with far more suspense and gripping action. It also had the added bonus of a young Natalie Portman, rather than the whiny brat who constantly lands everyone in trouble here. Add to that the main shootout being a poorly edited, shot-in-green-light farce, and a villainess who, if she chewed any more carpet, would have a completely bare house, and you can see we have real problems here.Still, it's not all bad. Jean-Marc Barr compellingly plays the ice-cool hired killer, and Asia Argento makes for a sexy yet intelligent officer. We get to see quite a few scenic highlights of Europe, and the plot moves along with just the right speed to stop boredom setting in. It's just the feeling of deja vu is constant from the first shot... And I guarantee you've seen it done better. I know I keep bringing this point up in my reviews, but if the boot fits... 5/10.
Claudio Carvalho
In Paris, the twelve years old girl Alice (Alexandra Negrão) arrives to the police station, and asks to meet detective Anita (Asia Argento). In her office, Alice tells that her mother Eva (Frances Barber) is a sadistic killer and delivers a video showing Eva torturing and killing their maid Sunya. The chief of police does not believe in Alice, but Anita decides to investigate by her own and finds that Eva is a powerful and wealthy leader of an international criminal organization. When Alice escapes from the guard of the detective in charge of her security, she decides to travel to Portugal to meet her father, who is supposedly dead, and is chased by two gangster of Eva's organization. Alice meets the traumatized mercenary Hugo (Jean-Marc Barr), who protects and travels with her to Portugal, trying to find her father, while Eva and Anita also travels to that country."La Sirène Rouge" is one of the most unbelievable and flawed screenplay I have ever seen. The storyline is actually a great absurd since the very first beginning until the last scene. Nevertheless, there are many action scenes and shooting and this movie entertains. I personally am a fan of Asia Argento, and her name in the credits was the great attraction for me to see this movie. In the hotel, in the check-in of Hugo and Alice, the soccer game is between Flamengo and another Brazilian team. Later, we can hear the speaker narrating another soccer game in Brazil. Therefore, the language is Portuguese, but the teams and the accent are not from Portugal. I found this sequence ridiculously hilarious. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "O Alerta Vermelho" ("The Red Alert")
homme_a_la_cape_noire
I went to see this film because I had read the novel by Dantec. The litterature is not a masterpiece but constitutes the basis for a wonderful film. Unfortunately, Mr Megaton(the director), seems to have misunderstood the strength of the novel. This story is a psychological one based on the relationship of a daughter with her murderer mother and the one of a little girl with an idealistic Bosnia Mercenary. The Director Olivier Megaton does a very poor job at expressing these complexities beeing to buisy showing long shooting and actions scenes, giant explosions etc...
Except from Jean Marc Barr who is somehow convincing as Hugo, the actors interpret the complex characters whith very talent and little complexity. The mother murderer seems like a movie version of Cruela Devil from the 101 dalmatians. The plot beeing somehow far fetched, this film's characters needed to be given realism to make the experience fulfilling.
Yes the shooting scenes are filmed with talent and the sound quality is astounding but pure technique and craftmanship are not enough to make a movie. The film lacks layers and depths. Few people in Europe needed to be convinced that a European director could make an action movie. The problem is that this movie is the synthesis between the worse in European and American films It is filled with useless actions scenes, flat acting and unfinished characters(like in usual action hollywood films) and it has the badly explored psychological, philosophical and social themes of an unsuccesful european film
jean_paul_blanc
This is the kind of movie that allow me to say that French directors are able to make as good action movies as American ones. It's perhaps not so good as "Leon" or "Nikita" from Besson, but it's a new director : Megaton. The fact is that there are not as much electronics gadgets as in American movies, but we can see very nice pictures.