Les rivières pourpres II - Les anges de l'apocalypse (2004)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Director:

Olivier Dahan

Writers:

Luc Besson (writer)
Jean-Christophe Grangé (characters)

Release Date:

18 February 2004 (Belgium)

Genre:

Thriller | Action | Crime

Tagline:

An unholy crime... An unstoppable killer... Caught in a deadly tide.

Plot:

Pierre Niemans faces the threat of the apocalypse while investigating a series of ritual murders.

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Monk | Ritual | Mythology | Religion

Cast

Jean Reno	...	Pierre Niemans
Benoît Magimel	...	Reda
Christopher Lee	...	Heinrich von Garten
Camille Natta	...	Marie
Johnny Hallyday	...	L'ermite borgne
Gabrielle Lazure	...	La femme de Philippe
Augustin Legrand	...	Jésus
Serge Riaboukine	...	Père Vincent
André Penvern	...	Père Dominique
Francis Renaud	...	Flic Reda #1
David Saracino	...	Flic Reda #2
Michaël Abiteboul	...	Flic #1
Eriq Ebouaney	...	Flic #2
Jo Prestia	...	Emilio
Cyril Raffaelli	...	Prêtre tueur

Also Known As:

Crimson Rivers 2: Angels of the Apocalypse (International: English title)
Crimson Rivers II: Angels of the Apocalypse (UK) (DVD title)
Crimson Rivers: Angels of the Apocalypse (USA) (DVD title)
I fiumi di porpora II - Gli angeli dell'apocalisse (Italy)
Les anges de l'apocalypse (France) (working title)
RP2 - Les anges de l'apocalypse (France) (trailer title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence and some language.

Runtime:

100 min | France:97 min | Switzerland:87 min | Argentina:97 min | Mexico:98 min

Country:

France | Italy | UK

Language:

French | German | Italian

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Spain:13 | New Zealand:R16 | South Korea:15 | UK:15 | Argentina:13 | Australia:MA | Chile:14 | Finland:K-15 | France:-12 | Germany:16 | Netherlands:16 | Portugal:M/16 | Singapore:NC-16 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | USA:R | Norway:15

Filming Locations:

Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg

Company:

Studio Légende

Trivia:

Christopher Lee accepted his role mainly because he wanted to work with 'Jean Reno'.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In the scene where Reno get hit, there is a close up view on the machine gun feed belt where we can clearly see that it's blank ammunition they are firing on

Quotes:

Reda: You still never told me.
Commissaire Niemans: What?
Reda: The name of your dog.
Commissaire Niemans: I found an interesting name, a dangerous dog's name.
Reda: For a Yorkshire?
Reda: Yes, I called him... Reda!

Movie Connections:

References Resurrection (1999)

Soundtrack:

I Wanna Be Your Dog

Utterly disappointing

I love it when the French turn out enetrtaining blockbusters: Crimson Rivers and Vidoq spring to mind as examples of very good populist entertainment.

This sequel, though, failed for me at almost every level: thee greeat Jean Reno sleepwalks here, not that he has anything to do anyway, and he even seems to be playing a character with a comp`letely different personality to the one he had in the first film.

The direction and editing both suffer from the dreaded diseases of modern action films: lack of narrative clarity and far far far too many quick cuts that simply leave the viewer confused as to what is going on.

The script is weak, but what can we expect from Luc Besson who has not been involved in any even passable film since "Leon" (itself rather over-rated, but with several excellent features)?

Vincent Cassell is sorely missed. The great Christopher Lee is wasted.

The only thing I liked about the film was the use of the Maginot Line (once considered as a possible secret base for Blofeld in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service), but even then the visual atmospherics potentially available were not effectively exploited.