Luc Besson returns to the world of fantastic filmmaking with The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec. After what seems like a decade of him writer and producing Taken and The Transporter sequels, he arrives in the director’s chair to make an exciting film that doesn’t make people fear visiting Europe. The French writer-director gets back to what made The Fifth Element a mainstay of cable TV programming: creative action, bizarre characters, Egyptian references and a strong female character. He does a fine job of bringing to life Tardi’s graphic novels about Adele Blanc-Sec.
Besson gives us the great adventurer Adele Blanc-Sec. She’s a fearless and famed writer back in 1911. She hunts in the pyramids for a special mummy, but for what purpose? There are people out to stop her from exploring in the tombs of Ramesses II. Back in Paris an old man uses his mental gift to cause a dinosaur egg in the museum to hatch. This leads to a pterodactyl flying around the city and feasting on the French. The city can not tolerate citizens being snacked on. They hire a famed hunter to track the winged prehistoric reptile. Adele turns up in Paris looking for the old man. She needs him to use his amazing ability to revive her mummy. Turns out the wrapped up guy is the key to fixing a family problem. There’s a lot of strangeness in the film including a scene of Mummies wandering around the Louvre after dark.
The movie is a fun time with its mix of glorious Paris with the ancient world of mummies and dinosaurs. There’s plenty of humor in Adele’s antics including her constant attempts at a prison break out. The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec is the rush people were expecting from theatrical Tintin. Besson doesn’t have to turn his characters into those creepy CGI figures used by Spielberg and Peter Jackson. He uses just the right amount of human element with the CGI to make a magical tale seem almost normal. Louise Bourgoin has the right amount of dash and sensibility to play the character. It’s a surprisingly exciting escapist adventure flick. It’s good to see Besson is back.
The video is 2.35:1 anamorphic. The high def transfer brings out the detail in the CGI creations as well as the masterful special effects on the various actors’ faces. The main audio track is a French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. It sounds really good during action scenes. The PCM Stereo track is in French. There is an English dub track, but it sounds like a dub track. They didn’t do much sound designing to make the voices fit into the scenes. You might want to watch the film in French and read the English subtitles to truly appreciate it.
DVD has the movie and all the bonus features. You can also upload a digital version of the film from Shout! Factory.
Deleted Scenes (2:06) are four moments between Adele and her sister. These two did like to get physical in their arguments.
Musical Featurette (1:51) explores how they got Louise Bourgoin to sing.
The Making of The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec (26:02) explains how when Besson first approached author Tardi about making a movie, he was told a famous director already had the rights. Besson wasn’t upset. He was eager to see the movie. But after a few years of no action, he called back Tardi and got the ball rolling.
The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec is a rather extraordinary adventure involving mummies and dinosaurs roaming Paris in 1911. The action has the proper amount of goofiness to keep things light and jumpy. Luc Besson returns with a fine matinee flick.
Shout! Factory presents The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec. Directed by: Luc Besson. Starring: Louise Bourgoin, Mathieu Amalric, Gilles Lellouche and Jean-Paul Rouve. Running Time: 105 minutes. Released: August 13, 2013.
