Search - Renegade (aka Blueberry) on DVD

Neil T. C. from OSSINEKE, MI
Reviewed on 1/12/2010...

This was ok with the obvious budget for this movie on the low end. A little confusing in the beginning. Probably would not buy or order agaqin.

If you like westerns, look elsewhere. Otherwise it's AWESOME

doppelganger | Chicago | 02/27/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Did you ever meet your beast? The other other reviewer is exactly right in that it's a metaphysical experience. Looking at the back cover, I wonder if the person who wrote the description had any idea what the movie was actually about.

There is realism here. Everyone is speaking different languages as it was; French, Spanish, English, Native Americans tounges, etc. Pioneers are looking for gold, and Madsen is looking for His gold (I won't spoil). He's an AWESOME villian, but you already know that. Everyone else is fantastic. The special effects are really well done, and thorough (excellent production value).

About halfway through, I was thinking this is an awesome movie, and toward the end, speechless. Totally stunned, the credits rolled by.

I'm a sci-fi junky, and this didn't seem like it was really up my alley, but was recommended. And thank God, because sometimes the best movies are the ones that you never even heard of.

The reviewers who hated this movie should ask themselves what they wanted out of it, and then maybe go jump out a window for the rest of our sakes.
"

A metaphysical western

Cubist | United States | 02/18/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"(Very) Loosely based on Jean "Moebius" Giraud's famous comic strip, Blueberry, Jan Kounen's Renegade only uses the French artist's work as a starting point for which to go off on all kinds of fanciful, metaphysical tangents. It starts with obvious nods to Sergio Leone's expansive widescreen spaghetti westerns and ends up tripping the light fantastic with blatant references to the cosmic climax of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.

From the opening shots of vast, sun-drenched desert landscapes to the lush, green forests that the Native American inhabit, Renegade is saturated in atmosphere. It is rich in texture and detail that immerses the viewer in this world. Kounen uses an impressive arsenal of visual tricks, such as time lapse photography and dissolves to enhance the mystical effect that he is trying to achieve. By the film's climatic 20 minute mind-trip, the director cranks up his style to a whole other psychedelic kaleidoscope of computer generated abstractions that threatens to overload the senses. After the ten-minute mark it gets to be a little much and after that point it becomes an endurance test.

Renegade is a western but with a definite European sensibility that is steeped in symbolism and flashy style. Kounen simultaneously celebrates traditional western iconography (six-shooters, horses, etc.) and subverts it with images of mysticism and magic (animal totems). In this respect it bears more than a passing resemblance to the similarly minded western, Dead Man by Jim Jarmusch. Like it, Renegade is an artsy western but with pretensions to 2001-like cosmic and spiritual awareness. After the last image fades you are practically choking on the dense and intense imagery that comes off as extremely pretentious. But after awhile and once the film's imagery sinks in, some of Renegade's striking imagery lingers."

"Animals Are Beasts, But Men Are Monsters" ~ Facing the Te

Brian E. Erland | Brea, CA - USA | 08/09/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"To truly become a man one must conquer his fear of 'Two Worlds,' the temporal, mundane world in which we live and the intangible, eternal spirit world within. Mike Blueberry (Vincent Cassel) or "Broken Nose" (his Indian name) has come to his defining moment in life. An old enemy has returned to town, the man responsible for the death of his first love. Will Mike be able to conquer the enemy from his past as well as his inner demons that have tormented him since that tragic event? Or will he succumb to his fears and remain forever nothing more than a man and a monster?

Recipe for the making of 'Renegade': Take the opening twenty minutes of 'Dead Man,' the greater middle portion of 'The Emerald Forest' and mix in a little '2001: A Space Odyssey' at the end and you have 'Renegade.' Not a bad blend by any means."