1) In France, cops who drunkenly hijack buses, get the standard Axl Foley "you're a loose cannon!" speech.
Yeah, but it was nothing on the conspiracy that happened later in the film. I think we'd be foolish to think that such things don't happen. How many police abuse cases are accused or caught on tape, in the USA alone? Many poeple aren't lucky enough to have a camera handy.
2) Cops work in police stations that look like the penal colony from Alien3.
I think that many of them were plain clothes cops looking grungy because that is the part they play. The director was a cop himself, so perhaps he knows something that we don't.
3) All French cops smoke like they learned from Al Pacino.
How many ways to smoke are there? I think you'd find that billions of poeple smoke like Al Pacino.
4) The same fat guy with a camera is present at every crime scene in Marseilles, regardless of time.
I think you'd find that these crime scenes had adequate time between them for the crimescene photographer to travel between them. The movie is 2 hours long but the story isn't.
5) Everyone in France drives crappy Chryslers.
Except that they don't in this film. There were several makes of car or did I mistake some of the emblems. Besides, it would be like saying that in a film made in Japan that 'everyone drives Toyotas'. It does happen to be the biggest and most prolfic manufacturer in the country. And then you have to consider that some of the film's budget came from Chrysler, perhaps.
6) Entire murder investigations can be submarined at will by upper echelon cops in trendy offices.
This is a staple of almost every single 'underdog detective' story out there, possibly because it actually does happen.
7) All French police captains do yoga on the decks of their million-dollar oceanfront villas.
Actually, you saw only ONE police captain in this film. I really think that this point is stretching things somewhat. Yoga is practiced by millions of poeple everyday. Why not?
8) A cat can survive a full-on impact with a radiator and only have a broken rib.
A cat can survive a lot of things. This is also a niggly point that only exists because the rigidness of your mind. I have seen cats survive worse, with less injury. You are dealing with a smaller, more agile creature than you might think.
9) Even the on-duty "POLICE" jackets worn in Marseille are tailored leather fashion coats.
Well, it IS a movie after all but hey, if THIS is how you watch films, then I wonder how you enjoy any at all. Unless THIS is how you do so.
10) Full bottles of J&B are available anywhere, anytime.
They are available from BARS and liquor shops. What is wrong with you? And he drank Contreau and other brands as well. J&B are probably the only ones that paid to have a lable shot. BuT I would wager that if YOU went went to a store that sold acohol, you would find J&B.
I loved this film too but these 'things I learnt' threads on imdb are pretty much a waste. Maybe I am missing the point, but honestly, I think that the poeple that write these are missing the point, of film. I challenge them to find a film that doesn't take poetic license or have some degree of unreality. And half the time the 'problems' are just IMprobabilities but not IMPOSSibilities. Anything is possible, especially in a movie. Especially a cop film.
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Critical_Beatdown
14 years ago
Nicely put Kil_Killion and thanks for putting this in its proper perspective.
I'm sick of these "# Things I Learned from watching" threads."
What we see as spectacle is in fact a ceremony
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adrian-15
14 years ago
Agree 100%.
Superb film.
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DigIt
14 years ago
Yep! there should also be appropriate counter threads in particular instances, i.e. this film has been inspired by a true story and the director was a former French Police officer, besides being a very non pretentious movie at all.
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2) Cops work in police stations that look like the penal colony from Alien3.
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And rightly so! Not that all French police stations should look like bombed out houses, but I had to go in one in Nice (close to Marseille) some years back to place a declaration for my stolen saxophone and it looked exactly the same, so I believe the opener of this topic may have started to learn things that are real, and useful too...
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nikkiten1979
12 years ago
Superb?
Entertaining yeah, but not superb. It's better than the average crappy French movie.
(•_•)
can't outrun your own shadow
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