Les Âmes Vagabondes

Ce n'est certainement pas de la science-fiction. Le début est intéressant, mais l'absence d'intrigue rend le film ennuyeux après vingt minutes et le reste du temps, quelques personnages s'ennuient en discutant dans un abri souterrain dans le désert. Les dialogues sont banals, voire comiquement naïfs, la tension ou l'action sont presque nulles (seulement une scène d'action d'une durée de vingt secondes). Les aspects technologiques ne fonctionnent pas car ils ne sont pas du tout expliqués. De plus, les créateurs n'ont pas réussi à insuffler de tension, de destin ou d'émotions plus fortes dans les scènes. En conséquence, le résultat est une narration stupide, superficielle, vide de sens et peu crédible, qui passe au-dessus de votre tête sans aucune chance de laisser une impression positive. (25/03/2013)

Je pense, donc je souffre ! J’aurais voulu voir les expressions faciales d’Andrew Niccol à sa première lecture du livre de Stephenie Meyer et j’aimerais savoir ce qu’il avait pris au moment de le scénariser pour le grand écran. :-D Niveau contenu, Les Âmes Vagabondes est totalement plat et la qualité ne dépasse pas celle d’une production pilote pour la télé (intérieurs de grotte en carton-pâte, voitures « futuristes » peintes en gris). Pour ce qui est de la logique et du message, on s’appuie sur le thème de science-fiction totalement éculé des « déterreurs de cadavres », inutilement dilué dans un motif à la Twilight où il faut choisir entre deux types. Des scènes qui étaient censées être sérieuses ou recherchées (notamment le final) ont provoqué l’hilarité de la salle. William Hurt a repris – probablement pour un cachet élevé – le rôle de mentor/père qu’il jouait dans Le Village. Le blanc va bien à Diane Kruger et c’est le seul élément du film que j’ai plus ou moins apprécié (mais juste sur le plan visuel). La deuxième étoile de mon évaluation est là seulement pour elle. Je comprends le succès de Twilight, dont j’ai même aimé le premier volet, mais ce film-ci est vraiment à côté de la plaque. Tant qu’à faire, regardez plutôt The Island de Michael Bay – il a au moins un message, il est agréable et a de bons acteurs, est dynamique, visuellement soigné et offre de l’action de premier choix. Les Âmes Vagabondes n’a RIEN ! (26/03/2013)

A star for “Radioactive” in the end credits. But other than that, I want to ask the cunt that wrote this to next time rape a different genre than one I like. To make sci-fi for people who don’t like sci-fi makes no sense. Let the intellectually tween audience and readers have their tween romances, as long as they remain in the field of tween romance. To see in horror, or science fiction, a story driven mainly by the heroine’s decision between two hunks is very annoying. But the saddest thing is that here and there you can see glimpses of a sci-fi motif that deserves to be properly developed. Alas, the mind of Stephenie Meyer is not enough for it. And Andrew Niccol is longer a filmmaker I want to follow. To lend himself for this crap, ew! (29/04/2013)

I would like to know a lot more about the laws of this world. To look beyond the boundaries of the designated area instead of wasting unnecessary contemplative moments in a cave. But despite the generally cautious pace, Andrew Niccol hit the right note with me. This time he didn't even need his usual visual and narrative tricks, Antonio Pinto's excellent soundtrack was enough for him, along with the fact that he has some pretty original subject matter in front of him, which comes to life in his hands as a carefully hypnotic romance. Stories by Stephenie Meyer always deviate from their genre anchoring, so just from reading the premise, it is clear that it will focus more on interpersonal relationships rather than the sci-fi aspect of the invasion. And there is no need to hide the fact that Melanie and company won me over in that regard. Unusual multidimensional characters, led by surprises and occasional Meyer-style exaggerated confessions, usually suit my taste, and with such a likeable cast (first and foremost among them future star Max Irons), it couldn't have been any different. When I then watched the sarcastic dialogue between Mel and Wanda with increasing pleasure, I realized that The Host had simply won me over. With reservations, some small missteps? Maybe. But thanks to its heartfelt nature, it was also guaranteed to win. (16/04/2013)

The idea of two women in one body could surely be used for a heart-rending (without irony) narrative about how difficult it is for a teenage girl to be herself, trust her feelings and not cling to the surface. But that didn’t happened. What did happen is a kitschy, embarrassingly literal knock off of the New Hollywood drama Wanda and, at the same time, an apt product of the society of spectacle in which even one’s soul has to be visualised to please the eye. After most of this remarkably undramatic film, the protagonist of The Host (shouldn’t it rather be The Hostess?) journeys through her own inner world, while the “rational” male characters have to help her find her bearings because of her emotional instability. It wouldn’t matter how little happens over the course of two hours in this film (the “feminine” failure to take action could serve as evidence of ideological subversiveness) if the ideas on which it is based weren’t so extremely stupid. Not only are the anxieties of post-modern society (xenophobia, the need to return to the simplicity of western myths, the emotional aloofness of world inundated with technology, the escape from the global to the local) presented in a midcult wrapper without anything disturbing (when blood appears, it’s a minor holiday), but the filmmakers immediately offer us banal solutions that only support the false illusion that there really is no cause for concern and it suffices if we all love each other and multiply. For each of the few positives (a couple of impressive shots, a hint of a visual concept, the doctor that looks like Obama), there are at least five times as many reasons why it would be better to avoid this offensively flat story about the emotional disjointedness of teenagers (the robotic acting not only by the aliens but also by the Earthlings, no progressive build-up, no suspense, several endings and, mainly, the persistent feeling that someone is trying to make a big damned mountain out of a molehill). Appendix: Fans of Twilight can feel free to ignore my review and rating. 30% (25/03/2013)