MovieChat Forums > Blueberry (2004) Discussion > This movie is a travesty of the comic

This movie is a travesty of the comic

posted 19 years ago by suzi_
32 replies | jump to latest

I read the comics and they are great, this movie not only alters Blueberrys whole upbringing but makes it so much worse.

And instead of just focusing on one of his adventures they take small small snippets from tons of his comic albums and making a stupid bad mess out of everything.

For example the black man who got scalped was inspired by a indian hunter called egghead who has a LARGE part in one of the albums.

This movie compared to the comics is so bad I want to beat whoever wrote the manuscript.

Read the comics.. THE best western comics ever.. it will make Dances with wolves seem like crap.

Forget this mess

[–] cambodianoise 19 years ago

You totally suck!!

[–] lefthandeddonkey 19 years ago

Movie said in opening credits it was "LOOSLY based"

This is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time.

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] nas_tribe 19 years ago

whas this movie intended as a torture device?

"IM DANCING LIKE A MONKEY...."
GIR

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] howcanyoubesure 18 years ago

I'm so happy they didn't try to make it fit with the comics that's so stupid and never makes for a good movie.
Who cares about what you are saying ?

[–] sabyelvis 18 years ago

Well, the comic's okay, but it's just a basic western tale, nothing really original. That movie has pretty much nothing to do with it, and though I found it pretty weird (probably because I never took any drugs), I kind of enjoyed it.
Proof that you don't have to be high to understand it!

[–] teaber 18 years ago

Why did they call it BLUEBERRY? To cash in on the comic books' reputation. This is what I will call a junk movie. The director may have taken LSD while making this. If he wanted to make an LSD movie, he should have found another setting. The title just lured many wiewers for their money. A total disappointment both for fans of westerns and the Blueberry comic books.

[–] howcanyoubesure 18 years ago

He should why ? Because you say ? Hahaha.
I don't think the director took lsd while making the movie, that's not the way it works.

[–] rtf3310 17 years ago

i never read the comic which is why i thought the movie was good and most didn't. not knowing the story just made it a unique western, gritty, and the visual stuff is spot on awesome.

[–] All_Eyez_On_Me 17 years ago

I suppose you have to be high or something to like it.
I felt like I was high just watching it!

[–] ryusaki 17 years ago

Thats good, isn't it?

[–] Lostara 17 years ago

Oh, come on, drop that "high"-thing. Out of the entire movie, those "drug-sequences" last about 15 to 20 minutes - that's not much! The rest of the movie is a great western with stunning pictures.
I love this film. I could watch it every week. Sadly I missed it in cinemas.

http://www.boardy.de/vincent-cassel-110458/

[–] TornaventoFilms 16 years ago

Actually the directook TOOK lsd during the movie. He experienced the chaman's drugs and *beep* up during the shooting. Actually, right after the shooting of Blueberry, he made a documentary on the chaman drugs. I can recognize that there are some good scenes, but i think this is a huge failure. The 30 last minutes looks like my computer when i'm away from the keyboard. How can you like the movie seriously ? What tha hell was that stupid use of special effects... Now people say, "yes but this is the first Western that really explore the Indian side..." Come on fellas, even if you love Kounen, which i can totally understand, I really think that this is a huge joke.

[–] 4KHD 16 years ago

The scenes you say look like your computer screen when you're away have been widely acknowledged on the web as the so far best and closest filmic representation of what goes on behind one's eyelids on an ayahuasca experience.
Even though ayahuasca shamans cannot be found in the wild west but only in the South American rain forests, these shamans and indigenous people do actually believe 110% in the other world and they fight each other on the spiritual level, as well as heal sick people. So, the whole concept of these visuals and the spiritual war bad sorcerer versus good shaman is entirely authentic - although geographically misplaced.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] nicver 18 years ago

Exactly my opinion too. They could have grouped 2 or 3 of his albums into one same adventure and it could have worked.

Good movies made after a comic book?

Wow there are quite a lot...

For instance the original Superman movie with Christopher Reeves, some of the latest Marvel adaptations (especially the X Men series), Crying Freeman, and Enki Bilal's Immortel.

And I can't wait to see Gunmm

[–] sproutsoul 17 years ago

Considering that the comic itself isn´t exactly well known among the normal populace, it´s highly unlikely that they were hoping to "cash in on the comic book´s reputation". My guess is that it started out as a more conventional Blueberry-movie but that it, as so often is the case, metamorphosed along the way into a somewhat completeley different beast. In many ways it would proabably have been better to have shed off the last remains of blueberry and let the movie stand on it´s own very capable legs, but there might be several reason to why this wasn´t done, time restraints, producers requests, contract obligations or whatever.

Anyway, I can see why hardcore Blueberry fans often are highly disappointed in the movie but thankfully (in this case) they aren´t that many, I think most people naive to Blueberry will on the other hand generally like this movie for what it is. This goes double if you have a psychedelic streak in you. :)

No matter what, it´s still one hell of a movie that I for one highly recommend.

-I think we have to face up to reality.
-If we're lucky, reality is a firing squad.

[–] flundran 17 years ago

I don't know what you call a "normal populace" - in Europe I find the comic fairly well known, especially among the French. So I definitely think there was a reputation to cash in on.

It's always a bit risky to base a movie too loosely on a printed work. If only the character names remain, while most of the plot and character motivations are altered, it's bound disenchant more people than it attracts.

[–] sproutsoul 16 years ago

Flundran: "I don't know what you call a "normal populace" - in Europe I find the comic fairly well known, especially among the French. So I definitely think there was a reputation to cash in on."

I guess you might be right. In France Blueberry is much more well known than in the rest of the world, and since it apparently mainly was a french production (something I missed earlier) it probably was easier to find financers by waving around the Blueberry license instead of trying to pitch the psychedelic western concept on its own.

But in other markets the Blueberry license isn´t actually worth much. For an example, the movie was simply renamed "Renegade" for the american market.

-I think we have to face up to reality.
-If we're lucky, reality is a firing squad.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] johnslegers 17 years ago

I tend to agree also. Blueberry and Durango are the two best western graphic novels EVER and without a doubt at par with or better than the old spaghetti-westerns. It is completely beyond my apprehension why the Blueberry character was hijacked for this pseudo-shamanic *beep* that definitely has some good parts, but that just might have been an excellent film if its length had been reduced by 50%

[–] szisoman 17 years ago

Lady, blueberry might be interesting but the BEST WESTERN COMICS EVER is actually Comanche, which was drawn by Hermann Huppen & written by Greg. Blueberry's style is ripped from those graphics.

" I am talking about..ethics "

[–] whoaah 15 years ago

Blueberry, which was first released in 1963, is a ripoff of Comanche, which was first released in 1969? No point arguing with your personal preference, but you should at least get your facts straight. I guess that would be... ethical.

[–] ElCarnal 14 years ago

I don't want to add to a debate which is completely beside the point of this thread - but I've read all Blueberry and all Comanche comics and in my eyes the former is way superior. In fact the only western comic I've read that can compare with the genius of Blueberry is Durango, and still, it is one level below.
By the way there's a very good comic scripted by Jean van Hamme which is called "Western" (one album only). I really loved it. Also, "L'étoile du désert" is a nice comic with a western flavor.

[–] ElCarnal 14 years ago

Oh and while I'm at it, I just wanted to say (even though I already said it in another thread) that I agree 100% with the OP and all the people in this thread that are mad at Kounen. What he did is scandalous. So scandalous that I've decided to boycott all his future movies.
Beware, Mr Kounen! bankrupt is imminent!

[–] aftermik 10 years ago

nothing can compare to Moebius who influenced ALL the francophone visual arts for 2 generations.

to compare his blueberry with comanche is like comparing rintitin with shining (kubrick, psychedlic as well); ignorant.

i love Blueberry the comic and i loved the movie as well & i think Moebius would like it too & very much. it seems most of you don't know it but Moebius was 100% into psychedelism.

This kounen movie is a tribute to Moebius, not Blueberry. Even though he was working hard to hide it under a different name, blueberry, the comic is also very psychedelic.

this being said, movie/tv serie from comic i'd like to see is "the Incal" (yes Moebius still)

[–] el_foso_del_troll 17 years ago

The movie doesn't have to do anything with the comic books, excepting the character names, and it sucks as hell. Not a western, not a good script (if there was any at all)... Shameful

[–] microx96002 16 years ago

I want my 2 hours and 4 minutes of life back! What a load of crap, doesn't anyone know how to make a western anymore?

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] blEkk 13 years ago

i didnt know the comics or anything about the movie before watching it,
therefore i think that movie is amazing and i will buy it if they ever release a bluray version of it.

[–] HarlemEagle42 (16120) 2 years ago

The comic does sound very interesting. Maybe a tv series would be better?