You only need to look at our comments area around our critiques to realize that the divorce between the press and the public is often complete; as proven by our recent review of Red One with Dwayne Johnson who raised a lot of contrary feedback. On AlloCiné, the film also received 1.6 stars (out of 5) from the press, compared to 2.8 spectators – which therefore only makes it an average feature film according to public opinion, however. Sometimes it is the opposite with the Werewolves made in Netflix with Franck Dubosc whom we hated, but less than the viewer (2.4 AlloCiné press stars compared to 1.9 public).
All this to emphasize that when we are about to launch a Top 10 film on a streaming platform, it is appropriate to ask ourselves, beyond our final assessment, what justifies its place. Especially when it finds itself directly in pole position in the Prime Video rankings, like The Gardener.
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Is it the pitch? Serge Shuster, a senior civil servant close to the Élysée, finds himself on the Matignon list, a list of names that the Prime Minister is authorized to eliminate each year in the name of reasons of state. When a commando arrives at his house to eliminate him and his family, his fate ends up in Leo's handstheir taciturn gardener.
It's true that as it stands, for series B and second degree lovers, The Gardener has enough to promise a good Nanaresque spirit around bloody tatane blows. But to place him number 1, we must not exaggerate… No, what actually motivates his “ success » is nothing other than its poster, particularly intriguing : Michaël Youn’s meeting with… Jean-Claude Van Damme! We must admit that even if the trailer promised hell, even that was enough for us to want to judge on the spot, out of masochistic curiosity.
The Gardener, a unanimous turnip?
For once, the divorce between press and public will not take place. On AlloCiné, Le Jardinier obtained 1.3 press stars compared to 1.2 spectators – on an average of 663 votes -. Same score on Critical Sense with 3.1 stars out of 10. Overall, people criticize it for absence of scenario, humor that is never funny and poverty in action.
-It's difficult to act surprised when we know that behind the film is David Charhon, responsible for Cyprian or Last Mercenaryalready with Van Damme, for Netflix. To summarize the guy's CV, over eight films, he garnered an average of 1.8 AlloCiné spectator stars. From there, we admit not expecting a miracle with this latest production.
A film that will quickly be buried?
An a priori that we therefore tried to question in order to understand the reasons for the massacre. And the final result is clear: we cannot decently advise The Gardener to anyone. Charhon has an appetite for heavy humor which is tense from the first minutes and which will make each character detestable. The feature film is immediately cheesy and if Jean-Claude Van Damme does what he can to add a little self-mockery, his playing partner gives the commando reason for wanting to eliminate him.
This could have been a correct pastiche if the film showed enough second degree to play the parody card, but it never accepts itself as such, preferring to fit very seriously into the tradition of comedy comedies. action. Let's not be afraid of words, everything is stupid, overplayed, annoying right down to the cameos and the post-credits scene. The director aligns his references, has his own jokes explained and abuses the tense running gag card with Ragnar the Breton.
The action is not there either since the editing fails to pay homage to Van Damme's preserved form by overcutting soft fights. We're in for a real crowd-pleaser with school fights and hemoglobin flowing like a nosebleed. A desire in tune with the comedy part ultimately: to make Gardener a film that never exceeds one kindergarten level writing.
What The Gardener placing number 1 in Top Prime Video is no mystery. Like many productions on streaming platforms, the feature film relies solely on its casting to generate interest while not caring about the final result. The desire here is only cynical and financial: to make the film accumulate views temporarily, no matter if people abandon the viewing partway through or if it quickly ends up in catalog limbo in the days that follow. come. And if the strategy is not new, it reaches, in this case, a scale of mediocrity rarely equaled. But since it works, we can expect the bad plants to continue to grow.
Discover The Gardener on Prime Video
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