Customer Reviews

Immortal

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(19)
1 star:		(22)

 

 

Let me tell you about the director first. Enki Bilal, born in Yugoslavia, moved to France when he was 10, and has become one of the most influential comic book artist in France since around 1980. His works include 'Nikopol Trilogy,' and this French film 'Immortal' (his third entry as film director) is based on the first two books of the series.

I said this because the merit of 'Immortal' lies all in its visual imaginations. The film's story with many characters is very confusing, revealing its origin. The film is visually interesting for it was shot against the background of green-colored screen, on which the buildings or the landscapes of the city is digitally painted. The method is similar to that of 'Sky Captain', but the effects are quite different as I explain later.

[THE STORY] is complicated, and the film refuses to explain some part of it. 'Immortal' is set in the year of 2095, NEw York City, where cars are flying between the skyscrapers, but one strange thing is floating on the air -- that's a pyramid, out of which a naked man with a bird's head emerges. His name is Horus, a convicted deity who is given seven days to do something on Earth, borrowing the body of a convicted human Nikopol.

The nature of the crime of Nikopol (played by Thomas Kretschmann, 'The Pianist') is only vaguely suggested, but anyway Horus possesses his body, and controls him as he wishes. Then, his purpose will be clear when Nikopol/Horus approaches to a mysterious woman Jill (former Miss France Linda Hardy), whose skin is all white and whose blood is blue.

Kretschmann, Hardy, and Charlotte Rampling (as Jill's doctor) appear as live-action actors while most of the other characters are created with CGIs by a French studio. The CGI-created characters look like those you have seen in the film version of 'Final Fantasy' and in this sense 'Immortal' is more ambitious than 'Sky Captain.' Interesting thing is one of the CGI characters (Rampling's estranged husband) is played by uncredited Jean-Louis Trintignant (voice only) who had appeared Enki Bilal's first film 'Bunker Palace Hôtel.'

[VISUALS] I like the visual imagination of 'Immortal,' but many fans would point out, quite rightly, that the future world of 'Immortal,' impressive as it is on its own way, are not as original as it looks. You remember classic 'Blade Runner' 'The Fifth Element' and one Japanese genius Otomo. To be fair, as I wrote before, Enki Bilal's original comics predate them (the first Nikopol comic was published in 1980), but still complaints are understandable.

But if the film is flawed (and I think it is), that is because of the visual itself, I mean, the CGI parts. To be honest, the CGI-drawn characters (of a greedy senator, a detective, a big company executive, etc.) are all poorly done, and their bodily or facial movements are unnatural and awkward. I am really afraid that they are giving serious damages to the whole film.

But as you will see, the talent of Enki Bilal is undeniable, and his vision is presented effectively with the other-worldly but retrospective descritions of the city of New York in 2095, which is beautifully drawn with blue and grey (red is seldom seen). Far from perfect, but the picture is worth seeing.

As a teenager I was very fond of comics, later my passion declined but I still pick up some classics as Harold Foster's "Prince Valiant", Hugo Pratt's "Corto Maltes" or the Argentinean Hector Oesterheld "El Eternauta" and enjoy them. So I'm not immune to this kind of products.
Some years ago I've seen part of Enki Bilal's "Nikopol trilogy" and was seduced by it's depurate drawing, soft colors and strange characters.
Still I bought this DVD without realizing it was based on that story. Just thinking it was a sci-fi flick.

I was gratefully surprised when recognized Bilal's iconography transported unchanged to the big screen.
The mix of live actors with animated characters gives the movie an enjoyable "special taste". I recon I'm not very exigent as to the quality of CG animation and techno-boost fireworks. I simply enjoy the visuals as they are.

The story is no simple, but usually movies derivate from comic books aren't.
In year 2095 a strange pyramid is stationed over NYC. From there Horus (an Egyptian god) emerges in search of a human body to possess. Unfortunately the unwilling host of this godly presence, if incompatible, is doom to death.
After some failures Horus is finally able to find his "receptor". At that moment the second divine quest starts. Possessed Nikopol is forced to find and seduce mysterious Jill Bioskop.
From here on cops, monsters, tycoons, politicians, aliens, cyborgs and the rest romp frantically chasing each other in earnest!

Charlotte Rampling as Dr. Turner is accurate and as gorgeous as she was at "Zardoz" (1974). Linda Hardy (Miss France 1992) is giving her firsts steps as actress as blue blooded, blue haired Jill while young veteran Thomas Kretschmann ("The Downfall", "The Pianist" and "U-571") gives a full stamina characterization of rebellious Nikopol.

Bilal's drawings and imagery are a visual pleasure that deserve to be seen
I give this movie big thumb up!
Reviewed by Max Yofre.

Bilal is best known as a comic artist. I've liked his work visually: he tends towards a restrained and idiosyncratic palette of colors, but uses strong color where it makes a point. He makes each character stand out, and counts more on visual impact than physical credibility for bringing his worlds to life. I've always found uncertain narrative development in Bilal's stories, but with visuals that keep me going to the end.

That's what this movie was like: visually powerful, but baffling as a story. Ancient Egyptian gods come to Earth, in a massive pyramid poised over a major city. The city takes surprisingly little notice, until an exiled god seeks a human host body, then seeks a human female. OK, it's enough to carry the movie, but nothing spectacular. It's all the characters that make it work as an experience for the eyes, with their distortions, exaggerations, and unique visual style.

That style is carried in an alternation of live action sequences (with CG effects, of course), and animation on a par with Final Fantasy. The alternation wasn't quite seamless, but wasn't quite blatant enough to act as a narrative tool - I hope his future films make better use of each medium's strengths. The general styling stuck close to the subdued colors of Bilal's comics, even a restrained blue for the skin tones of the Jill, the female lead. Color dominates only in the final scene, richly enforcing the "new day dawning" theme.

"Immortal" is a remarkable crossover for a well-known comic artist, apparently adapted from his "Nikopol Trilogy" of DC comics. It's an exciting effort, and enough to keep me eager for more.

//wiredweird

The movie is awsome and everything written in the other reviews is correct. Just one BIG screw up:

The original movie is in french. The original graphic novel was written in french. As showed in the special features the filmakers spent months to lipsinc the entire movie with the lines in french.

So why in heaven would they REMOVE THE ORIGINAL SOUND IN FRENCH FROM THE DVD??? What the hell did they have in mind??? There's plenty of space for both english and french sound!

BIG mistake! They didn't even put subtitles in the begining of the movie when the gods are speaking to each other in a weird language (neither french or english). What they say is VERY important for the entire plot. In the french version they included subtitles in this part...

Summary: Great movie, awful release...

Immortal has an interesting idea and a fair visual style. However,it is deep, artistic sci-fi (really out there sci-fi). I definitely would not recommend this to the average movie viewer, but instead to film students, sci-fi lovers, and those who can handle artistic films.
The film has its benefits: a nice visual style and some good visual effects. The concept is interesting and true deep sci-fi.
However, the film has a lot of problems. There are plot holes. Why on Earth do the residents of Earth seem to be more concerned with politics than some odd pyramid that suddenly appeared in the middle of their city?! Some scenes seem to be lost in translation due to the fact that certain actors didn't speak English. They seem to be reacting oddly. The CGI was ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE!! I understand that this movie was made when CGI was not as good as now; although, even compared to some movies with older CGI (i.e. Terminator 2),this movie's CGI still stinks. They should have made the CGI like in "Beowolf" with real actors as the base. This movie could have been great but fails in three major aspects: plot holes, CGI, and non-English actors. A true example of how some mistakes can completely ruin a movie.

I'd first like to take issue with the many references to Blade Runner. Simply because a movie has a film noir atmosphere and is set in the near-mid future doesn't make it a Blade Runner clone. The stories of these two films are nothing alike. Enough said there. :o)

Wow, this film looks fantastic. It's major eye candy from start to finish. I think the noir aspect goes slightly too far with the flying cars that look like the result of a 50's taxi getting a makeover on "Junkyard My Ride," but otherwise it's as fascinating to watch as the plot is fascinating to see unfold.

I love the animal-headed Egyptian gods who feature strongly (mainly Horus, the film's focal point), and the story built around him and the female protagonist is interesting. It draws just enough from mythology to feed the plot without trying to rewrite history, and the people and events surrounding them are interesting and relevent.

There is some ambiguity at times where you're not sure exactly what's going on and exactly what sort of future this is, but otherwise it's hard not to just sit back and be engrossed. Ultimately I disliked Horus but at the same time understood how deep his motivations ran, and that sort of thing is important in character-building. Visually...wow, what a piece of work he is.

I highly recommend this for any sci-fi fan, but even if that isn't your thing there's still a great story, great characters, and a nice noir feel to satisfy non sci-fi fans. The sci-fi aspect doesn't overwhelm the story, even given the fantastic visuals and eye-catching aircraft. Please support them and buy this so they'll make more.

In short the plot is the following one : there is two stories in parallel :
- An egyptian god is sentenced to death and has seven days for impregnating a pretty female in order to survive through a son or a daughter.
- a corrupted politician implicated in the traffic of organs is trying to kill a rebell (Nikopol), released accidentaly, after he had been frozen for thirty years; the politician is afraid that Nikopol knows too much about his illegal activities.
- this rebell and this female fall in love each other.
The film is aesthetically beautiful mixing several visual influences (Tarkovski's Stalker, Cocteau's 'Testament of Orpheus', the aesthetic of the Bilal's comics and also coming from his earlier films); the film is not truely action packed but rather atmospheric.

There are several problems with this disc. Picture quality is terrible, barely dvd standard, and the TrueHD audio is all messed up. The center channel audio comes from the right speaker, you need to use the DD2.0 track to get channels right.
Skip this, atleast until a proper bluray version is released if that should ever happen.

I really don't care about the genesis of the movie or the creative process, just the final outcome. While I wholeheartedly agree that the Pyramid Alien Language really needed to be subtitled, and the "gods" were poorly done. I have to say that the rest of the negative reviewers just don't "get it." No, it's not akin to Blade Runner (I watched BR a couple of days ago, and apart from Rachel, that movie looks like it could have been shot last year!) - this movie is totally different. Sure, the blending on CGI and actors is at times rough, the plot line a little convoluted, and major characters are not explored enough, but overall the movie is a great viewing experience.

A better comparison would be to Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow - I movie I really can't watch any more simply because 1) I can't stand the characters, and 2) The SFX literally gives me a headache! Immortal has a far superior plot, storyline and SFX. Remember - it's a graphic novel brought to the screen, so it retains much of that look and feel.

Better to think of a blending of the Fifth Element and the Anime "Sin."

As for Immortal, the emphasis - and the audience focus should be on - the story, not the SFX. Even with that caveat, it is stunning eye candy, and Nikopol is the kind of character you can really wrap your mind around. General observations: The blue haired babe (Jill Bioskop) seems to be inspired by Farscape's Chiana. Watch it several times to catch odds and ends you may have missed - and to experience the imagery. The detail and amount of visuals is simply stunning. Too much to catch in a single viewing.

The story of this movie is especially interesting if you realize that a second, even third, part must be coming to explain many -and I mean MANY- loose knots. If seconds aren't coming you would be allowed to say Immortal is a strange dream taken to the screen but somehow worth the 102 minutes it last.

The really ugly part of the movie are the poorly executed computer generated characters, in fact, for the possible exception of a couple of monsters, they are awful, move terrible and don't transmit anything to the viewer. Why didn't the director use humans? A fat man, a tough girl... surely they would cost more or less than the graphics did.

Said that I think it's an interesting movie. Check it out, but have in mind it's a bizarre story.