Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

A Disappointing Continuation

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

.Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

I saw this movie in Chinese by mistake. I don't speak Chinese. I could follow the story almost perfectly. This gives some indication how infantile this movie is. So if it fails in America, Mr. America - Bashing - As - Universal - Apology - For - Horrible - French - Movie - Disaster, it's not because we can't follow it. It's because we can follow it all too well. This is especially sad, since the actors have been very good elsewhere. Here the best that can be said about their performances is that their costumes looked nice. Even that dude with the metal headplate looked stylish. Having seen this film, I'm considering having one bolted on to quell the agony. Besides, the French invented fashion, as everyone knows.

This movie has one of the worst adapted scripts I've ever seen. To be honest, I've never read any original novel, so maybe it would be easier to follow the movie for me if I did, but that can't be the objective of any film. The movie has a lot of things going for it. It has nice costumes and sets and it really delivers this 1900 atmosphere. Plus, the idea of a gentleman thief could really be promising. But oh my god, how bad is that script...It looks like they had three scripts from which they chose whatever they thought to be the best, leading to a series of events that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. All the time during this movie you keep asking yourself: How did they get there? What are they doing there? Why are they doing what they are doing?There is just too much going on. There are two girls, two villains (actually there are three, as it turns out that Beaumagnan isn't really working for the royalists) and there are at least three endings of which the final one is the most disappointing of them all. So as you can imagine, there is no time to properly introduce all the characters, let alone develop the different strands of the plot.

Might contain some spoilers.In this vehicle from 2004, we get after the movie Vidocq, we get the next hero from the old days. Arsene Lupin the French counterpart of the English gentleman thief Raffles, while Raffles adventures are limited Arsene had a long list of books they could film.This movie however took the road of an epic movie, it cuts through the life of Arsene to highlight one of his great adventures and thereby leaving out the portion what made the man so charming namely his gentleman thiefery adventures. Yes we get a little peak of a few episodes but mostly AL is busy not stealing in the most genial ways but having a grand adventure. Is the movie therefor less entertaining, no it is not as epic adventure stories go it is a nice and fun movie that uses this classic hero in a positive way. It fails to deliver the gentleman thief however, which is one of the reasons why I like the character.However the main character monsieur Lupin does strike me as a Vincent Cassel light, he does his job well enough but he's for me not powerful enough. Kristin Scott Thomas is besides a gorgeous woman also a devil in this movie, she gives the movie it's strength (bond villains have a look here how it's done). her part also gives the movie that fantasy aspect that does sit rather well in this story. Eva Green is a vision of loveliness so when the inevitable moment comes you really care.The movie moves in a decent enough pace, gives us a great and luscious view of old France with some great set pieces like Paris. Greatly filmed and delivers a nice enough epic movie that could have used a little less epic.I hope that the next movie is a we bit scaled down in size and centers more upon the character Lupin as a master Thief.And I am now actually looking forward to that moment that is bound to come when the French cinema has a new shot at Fantomas (French greatest villain ever). I feel that the popularity movies as Vidocq & Arsene Lupin will undoubtedly make way for this title.Perhaps it is time for the UK to dust of their epic hero's like Allan Quartermain (with a preferable SC) or Raffles.If you like any of the last suggestions make your nose tingle it is a sure sign you most probable going to enjoy Arsene Lupin. Enjoy, I did.

This movie is an embarrassment to French cinema. It seems to have stolen the worst ideas of Hollywood movies in trying to make a French blockbuster. Gratuitous special effects and bombastic music fail to distract the viewer from the flashy, shallow, and convoluted storyline. The movie starts slow, almost too slow, and then by the end whips into a frenzy where the filmmakers have tried to stuff everything and the kitchen sink both to forestall any misgivings by the viewer and to allow for the possibilities of endless sequels.The role of Arsène was very poorly cast. The only saving graces to this movie are Kristen Scott Thomas and the beautiful landscapes of Normandy. Yet somehow this movie managed to make even Étretat, the focus of Monet's famous paintings, look fake.