2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Light on plot but heavy on action and good humour, April 30, 2009
This review is from: Fanfan La Tulipe (Original French Version with English Subtiles) (DVD)
Set against the backdrop of the Seven Year War, "Fanfan La Tulipe" tells the story of Fanfan (Vincent Perez), a young Frenchman who joins the army in order to avoid marrying one of his many lovers and subsequently falls in love with a princess and uncovers a traitor to France.
"Fanfan La Tulipe" is light on plot, but this is more than made up for by the multitude of action scenes, which play like something out of "The Three Musketeers", and the general good humour of the piece. The jokes are a mixture of physical comedy and anachronistic gags, largely at the expense of the French, and at worst bring a smile to your face, while at best are laugh-aloud funny.
The script is co-written by Luc Besson, and is in the vein of his later (arguably lesser, although still entertaining) movies such as "Taxi", "Bandidas" and "Wasabi". It is also directed by Gerard Krawczyk who has directed five Besson scripts to date. Fans of Besson's earlier films will likely be disappointed by this effort (as the years pass, it seems increasingly unlikely that Besson will produce another "Leon" or "Nikita"), but there are many far worse ways that you could spend 97 minutes or your life than watching this film.
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6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
amusing European monarchies, April 3, 2005
This review is from: Fanfan La Tulipe (Original French Version with English Subtiles) (DVD)
This is a comedy very similar to the 3 musketeers,
the difference being there is only one musketeer.
The story is about a musketeer who likes women
but does not want to marry and flees into army.
There he should be save for the next 3 years,
the remainder of the 7 years war ;).
Actually the story is not very relevant.
The movie is funny to me because of the jokes on the
French king, the French army and European politics.
(Some Americans will see this as France bashing *sigh*.)
One joke is at the battlefield the French king
fails to remember what started the war and which
color uniform matches which country and on which
side they are fighting.
Or an enemy spy rearranges the tin soldiers
on the Kings map to sabotage the battle of the next day.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Slight but still fairly enjoyable, May 9, 2009
This review is from: Fanfan La Tulipe (Original French Version with English Subtiles) (DVD)
This 2003 remake of the much-loved Gerard Philippe original comes from the Luc Besson stable and has all the typical strengths and weaknesses that implies. It's nowhere near as bad as its disastrous Cannes reception implies, and Vincent Perez makes a good tongue in cheek lead, but the hugely extended action scenes - owing more to Jackie Chan films than traditional swashbucklers- come at the expense of a much-truncated plot and something of a loss of charm. It's not completely without wit, but it does tend to exhaust your goodwill somewhere around the halfway point.
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