There are many things that must occur in order to say that a movie is really good. I saw this movie shortly after it was released, but had no internet or desire to write my review anywhere. Then came a flood of Hollywood movies, exceeded in special effects, but with bad scripts, without compelling stories; remakes or adaptations(bad adaptations) of old TV series, and so on. I almost forgot that it was possible to make good movies. And when I say good, I mean really good, like this. I saw it again recently, but this time I decided to give my opinion.Here is a captivating story that keeps us expectant and eager to know what really happened with Vidocq. A young man is determined to find out, reconstructing the last moments and revealing secrets. All this, with a truly captivating atmosphere, fabulous special effects, but measured and timed. Here, there is no excess of special effects. They are conveniently used to give this film a visual beauty according to the script.The edition of the film as well as the performances and the resolution of the story, are truly remarkable.It has enough twists and surprises, but does not become stifling for those who do not like thinking too much. Perhaps if more complex, it would be agreeable to a smaller group of people (like me). But that would be asking too much. There are other movies for that. This is an ENTERTAINMENT capable of covering a wide spectrum of audiences. A work truly worthy of being seen especially in times where bad movies abound supported by the God of marketing. If you like good movies, try this one.Because it made me remember that it is possible to sit and enjoy a good story, even with special effects, I give this movie a higher score.

Along with "Le pacte des Loups", "Vidocq" can be spotted as the beginning of a french invasion in horror and fantastic genre. Viewing it 6 years after its first presentation on-screen, when French cinema has now produced such chillers as Haute Tension or L'intérieur, its easy to be impressed with the path the genre seems to follow in this most improbable country... Although Horror french movies are not ALL good, "Vidocq" is a prime example of a good and original piece of work coming from Moliere's land (and you should also pay close attention to the other movies named above...).While the story behind this gorgeous movie (every single frame is a "tableau") is pretty simple, there is much to love in this flick. All actors are quite good and every single characters is so well defined that, even with few words, the viewers can be delighted with their playing (Dussolier is especially good...). Costumes and settings are part of the fun here: with digital effects used with overwhelming intensity, Pitof have created a world that tap easily in our Gothic sensibility, yet the few historical events (the tensions between the people and the government is somehow palpable though we don't see much of it: it creates an ambiance of decadence that permeates every scenes) depicted here and there help keeping a strange aura of reality to this very improbable story... As I said: its clearly part of the fun...As the aforementioned simple story told before, Pitof edited his movie in a very energetic way, the scenes flowing easily from present to past and thus maintaining the viewer's interest. It helps that it begins with a Bang: the titular character being killed by the criminal (and what a criminal!) he is after in an industrial setting that could be hell (it simply have to be seen...). After that, a journalist, stating that he is Vidocq's official biograph, is searching for the truth: what happened to Vidocq and who killed him... And thus begin the darkest ride into the darkest sides of Paris ever filmed... with a satisfying punch in the end... This ending is good in a way that make the movie interesting to watch again in the lights of this very last information. Another interesting point: the story of Vidocq and his colleague Nimier, being told during the opening credit: keep your eyes open to read every newspaper's titles that goes here and there among the artisan's of this movie and you will have a complete fleshed out background for those characters...All and all, a very good and deliciously dark flick that would satisfy those weary of the mainstream horror cinema... This is not a film to read about. To fully experienced it, you have to see it... Believe me!

I have tried to find a horror/slasher/monster/ghost-movie that I like that isn't American since those films are so over-exposed all over the world, but it's not easy to find horror from other countries in Sweden. Sweden is a small country, so to make money, you gotta go for blockbusters over here. But, since Swedes are pretty serious and pretentious and artsy-fartsy when it comes to films and theater, we do get all things French, no matter if it's pornographic and stupid.I saw the commercial for this on another film I rented, and it looked rather old-fashioned and mystic, with good actors, so I had positive expectations. But, it has some of the most annoying visual effects I've seen, where complete skies and countrysides and buildings and characters are filled in with horrifically ugly results. The look of the movie is very much TV-production, which may be the aim, but still is ugly and makes the whole experience very small for such a large-scale story and fascinating old France. Then we have a hand-held-camera-attitude which just looks so pretentious, exactly like all those TV-courtroom-dramas where they move the camera around to create "tension", or nausea, whatever works for you. Only here, it's worse in that they make one bored. Cuts and closeups and wiggle shots, like drunk on a boat in a storm. The acting is good, as often in the case with French actors, and the story compelling and interesting.¨This could have been very good, with a less pretentious approach, as I said earlier.

One thing to be said about Vidocq is, that Pitof has managed to made visually rather neat flick, even thought it's very visible, that the budget of the film wasn't extremely huge, as some of the CGI effects are very clearly just effects.Plot isn't that bad either: Vidocq (Gerard Depardieu) is hunting notorious murderer called The Alchemist. Vidocq then disappears, but his biographer Boisset (Guillaume Canet) begins his quest to find him.As for characters go, Alchemist is actually rather effective boogie man, even thought the movie itself clearly is tilted towards action than horror. That is the biggest problem of the movie: besides the action it really has very little to offer.Watch it for it's action scenes, not to get scared.