October 01, 2005

ATOMIK CIRCUS (2004) – Region 4 THAI DVD review

ATOMIK CIRCUS (2004) aka ALIEN VS VANESSA PARADIS – Region 4 Thailand - DVD review - (J-BICS release)

A messy, mad movie - a sci-fi horror comedy musical... breaking its back to be original. (A french language film with english subtitles).

An unlucky stuntman (Jason Flemyng turns action hero) tries to rescue a wannabe rock star (Vanessa Paradis) from space aliens attacking a (very french) swampland shanty town.

The cinematography is fantastic (though the DVD gets a little murky in the darker details) with exciting angles and all the latest camera moves. Full of amazing, unique, chaotic fx shots as the aliens float around committing bloody mayhem.

Some of the humour has been lost in the translation (unless it's not funny in the first place) - but the english subs do a good job getting the wordplay across, though mostly they are timed before the lines are even spoken.

The film is presented in 2.35 anamorphic, though the letterbox seems tight on the composition - often cutting off the tops of heads... but I guess that's what this film is all about!

The french language 5.1 audio mix is fairly muddy (though Paradis' songs come through lod and clear) and there are very few directional fx.

There are no frills and no extras on the disk BUT this is the first release with english subtitles, so I'm very pleased to have had the chance to see it.


MAX


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