Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

blanche-2 This miniseries, three hours from an original five hours, is the story of Carlos the Jackal, a Venezuelan terrorist who operated in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. His most famous attack was on an OPEC meeting in 1975. Sixty hostages were taken and 3 people killed.Carlos, real name Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, was allied with the Palestinian/anti-Zionism cause, seeking justice and equality. Written and directed by Olivier Assayas, the twenty-year sojourn of Carlos has some of the dialogue from Stasi recordings; the director fits in real events, mixing in actual footage and some fictional ones of meeting and negotiations.Carlos was committed to the cause, but he was also egomaniacal and ambitious, besides being somewhat of a mercenary. He was also a womanizer and believed that his destiny was to be killed.Once the wall came down, Carlos became an artifact, drifting from country to country seeking asylum, and finally being moved to French soil while he was ill, so that he could be put on trial.Edgar Ramirez does a fantastic job as Carlos. Like many of the South American or Spanish actors I've seen, he is completely natural and believable. It helped also that he can speak several languages as the character needed to slip in and out of them. He is an enigmatic Carlos, a powerful man who could take over a group with very little effort.There are many bombings, car chases, and meetings to be had and for some it may be tedious to follow. I found it very well made and interesting.

pdmanske This film is one of the few that inspired me to write a review. The film excelled for several reasons, the first for providing me with a quality educational experience and second for the quality of the film making that had goodies within goodies to offer.Carlos the Jackal was active during my youth, I grew up reading about him in the newspaper but this film put all of the knowledge together in one place and really made that knowledge relevant and understandable.The film itself was well made, the actors, the director, the crew, and the writer did a great job but the challenge the film makers had was to maintain quality while telling the dismal story that had become Carlos' life.Carlos the Jackal started his career as SPECTRE's James Bond. He was handsome, a lady killer, moneyed and fast with a gun but as life wore on, each new mission or event added a new dent that took him down a notch. The film documented the range of gradual failings and although there is a temptation to make humor from this absurdity, the style of the film is always serious. The film makers had a big job to show this quantity and quality of failure. You can literally make a check mark for each new insult every ten minutes.This film is about demise and the cluelessness of those involved.

tony randall i'm going to be brief since i think the other reviews of "carlos"already posted will give a good idea of the film's brilliance.i wanted to point out the genius use of music in this film-the post-punk songs specifically.as goes carlos down a road of egotism,gluttony and sloth so to does the the soundtrack mirror exactly how post-punk devolved from an idealistic,naive,and yes,somewhat innocent art form into a cold hearted mercenary whose original goals and beliefs had long since washed away into a sewer of profit margins,marketability and celebrity.it's no accident that the film opens with wire and closes with the lightning seeds.with a few changes this screenplay could very easily be re-packaged into the johnny rotten/john lydon story.the story of another man who thought the revolution was completely about himself...this is the best film of the past 5 years IMO.even better than mesrine,che and the baader-meinhof complex-3 other similarly structured historical bio-epics that are great films themselves,but not in "carlos" league.

John Raymond Peterson The story was interesting and worth the watch. Despite the disclaimers that stated fictitious characters were introduced in the movie and some events or parts of them were also fictionalized for artistic content, I like to think as I'm sure many others will, that it did not matter; we get a sense of what terrorism at the time, the 70's and 80's, was probably like. The movie has a lot of action scenes, a plus. It had too many solo nude scenes of the character Carlos. My guess is the director(s) tried to convey the narcissistic side of the man; I can't rule out that possibility. I would have preferred he had some of the women Carlos was famous for seducing into his world of violence, with him in the nude scenes. Édgar Ramírez did okay with the character of Carlos, but I think that had the direction of the movie been better quality, Ramirez would have provided a much better performance. The editing was sloppy and almost amateurish, I'm sorry to say. It won't spoil your enjoyment of the movie but if you watched the two part series "Mesrine", you can see the difference better editing and direction can do.