Another case of style over substance, but this time the film connected with this reviewer a little better than past reviews.
In the realm of French fantasy film I’ll have to give it to Brotherhood of the Wolf, but Dark Portals is an interesting second.
In the 1830s, Parisian detective Vidocq (Gerard Depardieu) is tracking down the mysterious Alchemist. He’s corned the mirror-masked fiend and meets his demise at the arch villain’s hand. His partner Nimier (Moussa Maaskri) is downtrodden at the death of his partner and friend. The young journalist Boissett (Guillaume Canet) shows up at Nimier’s door. He’s been corresponding with Vidocq and is writing his biography. He thinks that if he were to reveal the identity of the Alchemist he would both avenge Vidocq’s death and have a slam-bang ending to his biography.
So Boissett begins to backtrack Vidocq’s investigation. He learns that Vidocq was put on the trail when two men are mysteriously stuck by lightning on the same day (one man dying by lightening is an accident but two men struck down leads to murder). Boissett meets the beautiful dancer Preah (Ines Sastre), who has a clue as to why those two gentlemen were struck from on high and assisted Vidocq in his investigation. As Boissett begins to find out the mystery behind the Alchemist, the Alchemist is always one step behind him and making sure that the people he talks to come to a sticky end.
I hate to go back to the well again, but like the Promise (reviewed earlier this month) Dark Portals (called Vidocq in France) is another matter of style over substance. The thing is that Dark Portals stuck more my fancy than the Promise did. I’ve always liked Sherlock Holmes, steam punk, and the like.
Death by lightning
Vidocq is about as far away from Holmes as you can get, Depardieu is a bear of a man, but the film just connected better with me than the Promise did. Dark Portals does have a better class of CGI than the Promise did. However, the scripting is sacrificed for visuals and actions scenes as it was with the Promise.
The Alchemist has a discorporate form and can change his body (or enveloping cape as it were) at will. We really don’t get a concrete explanation as to what the evil Alchemist is up to in his subterranean laboratory and how he’s able to change his form. I would’ve liked to have some more scripting as to his motivations and what exactly was the deal with his mirrored mask (it captures the souls of the victims? Why?). I assume that we’re supposed to accept that it was alchemy, but sometimes I do like explanations.
One definite caution is to avoid the English dub. The voice of Vidocq is about as far away from Depardieu as I can imagine (it seems too high compared to the gruff look of Vidocq), definitely listen to the French track and put on the subtitles.
Dark Portals was the first feature film shot with the new Sony digital 1080p 24 fps cameras and reached the screen one year before the other feature shot with the cameras, Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. The use of this camera makes for some very nice visuals and the film has some creative production design. Whatever the case, this film fares better than director Pitof’s American directorial debut Catwoman.
Dark Portals is presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Sadly, the only special features are a 4-minute Apocalyptica music video and trailers for other Lionsgate DVDs.
If you like detectives battling arch villains then you should at least give Dark Portals a glance. The movie is a visual delight, but I still wish that more attention had been paid to the villain’s motivations and source of evil powers.
Vidocq confronts the Alchemist in his lair
In the realm of French fantasy film I’ll have to give it to Brotherhood of the Wolf, but Dark Portals is an interesting second. I don’t have a way to give this one 2.8 stars so I’ll have to give it 3.
Dark Portals is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for this version of the DVD in the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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