Despite some artistic talent shining through here and there, this film is a muddled mess of fantasy, slapstick and comic book adaption on par with Night at the museum when it comes to historical probability and intellectual stimulation. I think making great fantasy and sci-fi films is a heroic deed because making sure that the film stays true to its visionary and surreal nature while maintaining the logical & causal coherence within its framework of reference is true work of genius. Many novelists and some film makers have achieved this.

Sadly, Luc Besson fails so painfully that I almost walked out of this film. What a terrible and pointless amalgamation of idiotic action scenes and slapstick jokes.

What I liked is Besson’s hand for male characters who are all taken straight from a German expressionist Lang film, but the female lead is so generic and moronic (apart from utterly unrealistic) that you have no interest in what she does whatsoever and the film is only interesting when some random side-kick and unimportant characters get some screen time that is not related to the main story arc.

I am not even going to start on all the mistakes, goofs, continuity errors and plot holes, but believe me, there are plenty.

Yes, I know, this is a sci-fi/fantasy film, but that does not mean that you can throw each notion of coherence out of the window. And please, don’t go for the cheap laughs.

Just as bad as Night at the Museum, maybe even more disappointing considering that Besson (is supposed) to have talent (I have not seen it so far).

Avoid !
HX