'Blueberry' is a famous comic book character from France. The books feature the same image of life in the 'Wild West' as most European Westerns do: grimy, brutal and characters with mostly shades of gray in their moral outlook. Not the 'white hat- black hat - "let's shoot up some injuns" stuff (older) American Westerns tend to feature.
As I like European westerns (esp. the Leone films) and was familiar with Blueberry, I expected to get a modernized treat of 'Leone-style' action fun. Even the back of the box promised it too.
Boy was I wrong.
The movie starts well enough, and the acting is good. The music is hauntingly good. The pictures are pretty.
But it is no 'real' Western, contains barely any action, and strengthens my belief the French mainly produce pretentious artsy-fartsy stuff.
Basically (and this is why I checked ''spoiler''- alert) after the promising opening you get to watch doped-out cowboys for about the last HOUR of the movie. We're even expected to believe the main villain goes about committing atrocities, braving the elements and hostile Indian tribes just to get spaced out. Couldn't he just lick a toad or something? At least Indio (For a Few Dollars More) offered some excitement with his druggie-antics.
So: if you like your movies pretentious and dull, you'll love Blueberry. If you want to watch a Western for the fun of it, steer away, you're better off watching a Leone for the x-th time.
As I like European westerns (esp. the Leone films) and was familiar with Blueberry, I expected to get a modernized treat of 'Leone-style' action fun. Even the back of the box promised it too.
Boy was I wrong.
The movie starts well enough, and the acting is good. The music is hauntingly good. The pictures are pretty.
But it is no 'real' Western, contains barely any action, and strengthens my belief the French mainly produce pretentious artsy-fartsy stuff.
Basically (and this is why I checked ''spoiler''- alert) after the promising opening you get to watch doped-out cowboys for about the last HOUR of the movie. We're even expected to believe the main villain goes about committing atrocities, braving the elements and hostile Indian tribes just to get spaced out. Couldn't he just lick a toad or something? At least Indio (For a Few Dollars More) offered some excitement with his druggie-antics.
So: if you like your movies pretentious and dull, you'll love Blueberry. If you want to watch a Western for the fun of it, steer away, you're better off watching a Leone for the x-th time.