“The Visitors” in failed mode
On the Netflix website, the pitch announces this: “When an old board game comes to life, a family travels back in time and lands in a medieval village where they will have to unmask werewolves to be able to return to their own time.”. You will have understood, the mechanism is known, it is that of Visitors. Except that the comparison stops there.
None of the mechanisms that made Jean-Marie Moiré's film one of the greatest successes of French cinema (nearly 14 million admissions, 8 César nominations) work. In particular, this relies on time travel between modernity and medieval times. It's not funny. It's never even funny. “We are artists. I'm Daniel Baladin. And they are my troupe: the Baladettes…” Can we go lower in terms of gag?
From under “Jumanji”
Visitors are not the only source of inspiration for Werewolves. The film also draws on the successful saga Jumanji. The family of Franck Dubosc and Jean Reno finds itself immersed in the game The Werewolves of Thiercelieux. But there too, it’s a splash. As much as the first part of Jumandji manages to maintain the suspense, here, the “trick” is revealed and explained from the 20th minute. For what ? What's the point of revealing the film's engine so early?
What ends up burying everything is the cheap side of the production. It's a low-cost film in terms of setting. The director may have put his camera in all the positions and varied the possible angles, but he cannot forget that almost everything was filmed in a single medieval street. It looks like a huge pimple in the middle of your face.
As for the Werewolves, if they are not too badly made, they are anything but scary. They are more reminiscent of Chewbacca in Star Wars than bloodthirsty nocturnal creatures.
Furnishing the voids of an… empty scenario
Add to all this, reflections on the condition of women, questions of gender and identity, reconstituted families, social conditions, extracts from songs like “Les lacs du Connemara” by Sardou or “Light the fire” by Johnny, scenes “borrowed” from Monty Pythons or Asterix and Obelix: Cleopatra mission (“Of course, with good equipment, it’s easier”) but which make a splash every time.
We even come across Leonardo da Vinci, who wonders what he is doing in this story, like everything else. It was probably necessary to fill in the gaps in the script.
At the end of the day, we also wonder what Jean Reno did in this mess. Are the ends of the month really that difficult for an actor of his caliber?
Jean Reno tackles Tom Cruise: “Contemptuous? Yeah, totally!”
Very sincerely, treat yourself to a few games of Werewolves of Thiercelieuxthe board game, during the hour and a half that the film lasts, you will have a much better evening. Otherwise, time will seem long, very very long!
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