Tag Archives: Luc Besson

Luc Besson’s Dracula

I have long been a fan of Luc Besson’s films. His work is often based on and inspired by some of the great bandes dessinées, which are French-Belgium graphic novels. His classic science fiction film The Fifth Element was inspired by aspects of the bande dessinée Valerian and Laureline. His adaptation of The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec is one of my favorite Steampunk films. Although his direct adaptation of Valerian and Laureline wasn’t very well received by critics, I still thought it was a fun film. So, when I saw that Besson decided to adapt Dracula, I had to go see it.

Dracula is one of the novels most adapted to the screen. Almost every director who tries to adapt it finds some way to put their own unique spin on the material. So, when I went to see the film, I went in less wanting to see a literal retelling of Bram Stoker’s novel, but seeing what about the novel resonated with Besson.

Besson opens his movie in the distant past. Prince Vladimir of Wallachia played by Caleb Landry, has recently married his true love, Elisabeta, played by Zoë Bleu. Unfortunately the Ottomans are about to invade and Vladimir must lead the defense. He pleads with God to keep Elisabeta safe, then attempts to send her to safety, but unfortunately Ottoman agents corner and kill her. As a result, Vladimir renounces God and becomes a vampire, cursed to walk the Earth for eternity.

As time passes, Vladimir begins to travel. After an encounter with a woman who bore a passing resemblance to Elisabeta in Paris, he realizes she might be reincarnated. As such, Vladimir begins to make vampire minions to seek out Elisabeta. Jumping ahead to the nineteenth century, Vladimir has decided to buy property in Paris. Jonathan Harker played by Ewins Abid goes to his castle in Wallachia to finalize the deal. At that point, Dracula realizes that his fiance, Mina, is in fact the reincarnation of Elisabeta.

Meanwhile, Dr. Henry Spencer played by David Shields has captured one of Dracula’s vampire minions, Maria played by Matilda De Angelis, in Paris and a mysterious priest, played by Christoph Waltz, comes to study her. It turns out the priest is part of an order out to hunt down Dracula’s minions. They’ve come to realize if they kill Dracula, they might destroy all of his minions at once.

Dracula leaves Jonathan Harker a prisoner in his castle guarded by his gargoyle minions and journeys to Paris. Maria escapes her captivity and helps Dracula track down and seduce Mina. Although he struggles to awaken the memories of her past life, he convinces her to return with him to Wallachia. In the meantime Harker has escaped and he joins forces with Dr. Spencer and the priest. They lay siege to the castle setting the final confrontation between the forces of good and evil.

The storyline of Dracula becoming a vampire after losing his love and then seeking her reincarnation later feels like an expansion of Francis Ford Coppola’s film Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The impression is all the more prominent given how much Caleb Landry’s makeup as old Dracula resembles Gary Oldman’s makeup from Coppola’s film. That said, I liked some of the original ways Besson interpreted the material. My wife and I realized that Maria is, in effect, a combination of the Renfield and Lucy characters from the novel and she makes a delightful new approach to both characters. Christoph Waltz’s priest was wonderful to watch and I liked how his relationship with Dr. Spencer is not a simple reinterpretation of Van Helsing and Arthur Holmwood from the novel, it’s almost a literal team up of science and faith to fight evil. Dracula’s living gargoyle minions were also a fun addition to the story. That noted, the true star of the film felt like Danny Elfman’s standout soundtrack.

In the final analysis, Luc Besson’s Dracula isn’t one of the best interpretations of the source material and it’s not even one of the best Luc Besson films. However, it does experiment with the source material in some fun and interesting ways and I did like seeing how he experimented with some ideas Coppola introduced in his film. I do plan to give the film another watch or two. Who knows, it might even inspire some new stories. To see some of my stories inspired by classic vampire literature and folktales, you might enjoy the fun collection Vermillion Highways, which is available at: http://davidleesummers.com/Vermillion-Highways.html

The Alpha Missions

After spending some time with the Valerian and Laureline graphic novels of Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mézières, I became curious about what kinds of merchandise might have been created around the movie. I soon discovered that Ultra PRO Entertainment had created a game called Valerian: The Alpha Missions. I did a little research and discovered that it’s a cooperative-style game where the players work together to complete a series of missions on the Alpha space station before aliens either deliberately or unwittingly stopped you. According to reviews, it worked well as a two-player game. Given that my wife and I are fans of cooperative-style games, I thought it would be worth seeing if I could find a copy.

After reading about the game, I remembered seeing some copies in game shops a few months after I’d seen Luc Besson’s film. At the time, I thought the price was a little beyond my means. When I searched a few weeks ago, I found several affordable and new copies on eBay. Several of them appeared to be overstock that game stores might be clearing out. I placed my order and a few days later, the game arrived.

As it turns out, I thought Luc Besson’s film was pretty to look at and it captured the look and action of Valerian and Laureline’s world, but it missed the mark on several of the more fun aspects of the graphic novel series. There was also an anime series that captured the lightheartedness a little better, but was weak in other areas. However, what the graphic novels, the anime, and the film all had in common was a big space station where all the species of the known galaxy came together for trade and diplomacy. In Besson’s film, they called it Alpha. In the graphic novels and the anime, it’s called Point Central. Whatever you call it, it’s the place where a lot of the action in Valerian and Laureline’s universe takes place. So, setting the game there made sense.

I think one of the things that kept the movie from being as fun as it could have been was that Valerian and Laureline were written as soldiers in the military. Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne did a pretty good job playing tough-as-nails soldiers, who shared sly secrets through knowing nods and winks at each other. However, in the graphic novels and the anime, they’re “agents” for Earth government. Their role seems more like futuristic FBI agents than soldiers. The game doesn’t specify Valerian and Laureline’s jobs or rank respective to one another, so you can pretty much imagine them in whichever version of their story you prefer. Of course, the graphics in the game are all taken from the movie, but again, the movie did a great job of capturing the look of the graphic novels.

As for the game play itself, we both enjoyed it. The objective is that Valerian and Laureline must complete enough missions to score 20 points and return safely to the airlock where their ship is docked before the aliens score 20 points. The game was quick to learn. You set up the board by randomly assigning “Level 2” and “Level 3” rooms to spaces. Of course the higher the level of a room, the more challenging threats you might encounter. Then again, you might also get more points for completing certain missions in higher level rooms. You are “assigned” the missions by drawing them from a card deck. You also receive “gear” which will give you advantages either completing your missions or fighting enemy aliens.

Once we worked our way through a first trial game, we pretty much had the rules down and then played five more games in rapid succession. The games were challenging. Winning wasn’t easy and we did lose a few rounds, certainly enough to keep us from being over-confident. Of course, a lot of how easy or difficult a particular game is depends on the random chance of room placements and alien encounters.

If you like a good, fun cooperative game and can find a copy of Valerian: The Alpha Missions on line, I recommend it. I don’t think you need to have read the Valerian graphic novels or seen Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets to follow the game, but being fans did add to the fun.

Valerian and Laureline came out of that grand tradition of space opera that has long inspired my science fiction. You can learn about my science fiction novels by visiting http://davidleesummers.com/books.html#pirate_legacy

Valerian and Laureline

While learning more about the movie The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec directed by Luc Besson and the comic of the same name by Jacques Tardi, I stumbled across another French comic which was recently adapted by Besson. The comic is Valérian and Laureline written by Pierre Christin and illustrated by Jean-Claude Mézières. The movie, called Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, completely slipped under my radar. Because I love a good space opera, I immediately set out to see the movie and read some issues of the comic.

The comic started its run in November 1967. To put it in context, the original Star Trek was still on the air in the United States and Patrick Troughton was playing the title character of Doctor Who in England. It’s pure pulp action Sci Fi, reminding me most of Buck Rogers with a touch of Flash Gordon thrown in for good measure. The artwork, particularly in the first two installments, looks like it’s inspired by Mad Magazine and there is a definite satirical edge to the stories. The characters of Valérian and Laureline also remind me a little of Jamie and Zoe, the Doctor’s traveling companions at the time, but with some of their personality traits mixed up. Laureline, like Jamie McCrimmon, is from the past and doesn’t always want to follow the rules. Valérian, like Zoe, thinks highly of himself, and seems to need rescuing from time to time. I’m not convinced these similarities are deliberate. I suspect there’s an element of the zeitgeist of the period in these passing resemblances.

Fans of Valérian and Laureline are also fast to point out many similarities between the French comic and Star Wars which would come out a decade later. I gather George Lucas has acknowledged the French comic’s influence on the look of his world.

Jumping ahead to the movie, I thought Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets was a gem. It captured the spirit of the comic very well and I thought presented a dandy and cohesive story with some cool science fictional ideas that made valid commentary on what can happen when indigenous peoples find themselves caught between two civilizations at war. Valerian and Laureline themselves are introduced during a special ops mission at a market that exists in a different dimension from our own. I loved the way that concept was portrayed on screen.

I enjoyed the performances of Dane DeHaan as Valerian and Cara Delevingne as Laureline. They’re not your usual Hollywood romantic couple. In fact, they seemed just a little uncomfortable with this whole romance thing, but it worked for me because that’s the way romance often works in real life. It’s figuring out how you each work, and not having the writer put phrases in your mouth that the other party has to be a moron to misunderstand and pout about until they make up. The film also features a truly outstanding performance by Rihanna as an alien called Bubble. I also loved the cameos by Ethan Hawke and Rutger Hauer.

As a bonus, I’ve discovered that about ten years ago, Valerian and Laureline was turned into a French-Japanese co-produced anime. From what I’ve seen so far, the anime’s story diverges from the comic’s, but it still looks fun. I definitely need to watch a few more episodes.

Of course, I’m a sucker for a good space opera. If you want to see my serialized space opera story, please drop by my Patreon site. You can read the first story of my Firebrandt’s Legacy for free. If you pledge just one dollar, you can read nine more stories right now. If you remain a patron, you’ll get each new story as its released. Stop by and check out Firebrandt’s Legacy at: https://www.patreon.com/davidleesummers

Pterodactyls, Mummies, and Magic

I’m beginning to think the French are particularly adept at making steampunk films. I enjoyed 2013’s Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart which had lovely animation and used steampunk images and metaphors to tell a tale of falling in and out of love that included among other things a loving tribute to Georges Méliès. Last week, I discussed the 2015 animated film April and the Extraordinary World drawn in the style of cartoonist Jacques Tardi. This week, I take a look at a film that precedes both of these, 2010’s The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec, which is based on Jacques Tardi’s comic book series of the same name.

The film is directed by Luc Besson, probably best known in America as the director of The Fifth Element starring Bruce Willis. Adèle Blanc-Sec is a writer and adventurer living in 1912 who, as the movie opens, has traveled to Egypt to look for the mummy of the physician of Ramses II. Meanwhile, back in Paris, a professor uses mental powers to resurrect a pterodactyl at the French Museum of Natural History. The pterodactyl breaks free and manages to kill a high ranking French official. Like in The Fifth Element, many disparate characters and situations eventually come together, sometimes with humorous results. Sometimes tragedy ensues. In the end, I felt like I had been treated to a good and satisfying yarn.

As it turns out, the original comic series goes all the way back to 1976 and predates the K.W. Jeeter’s 1987 letter to Locus magazine where he gives Victorian fantasies the name “steampunk.” Even so, the adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec have all the hallmarks of good gonzo, historical fiction. We see a 1912—and even glimpse an ancient Egypt—where technology is so advanced for some, that it’s indistinguishable from magic. We see a pterodactyl brought back to life. For reasons that become clear over the movie’s course, we discover that Adèle wants to bring a mummy back to life. I have no problem calling this movie set just before World War I, steampunk.

Steampunk literature has brought us some strong female protagonists. Among them are Alexia Tarabotti in Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate series, Briar Wilkes of Cherie Priest’s Boneshaker and Agatha Heterodyne of Phil and Kaja Foglio’s Girl Genius. I’d like to think that Fatemeh Karimi and Larissa Seaton of my Clockwork Legion novels could also stand by their sisters. There’s no question that Adèle Blanc-Sec qualifies. In fact, one thing that impressed me about the movie was Adèle’s lack of interest in romance. There’s a young scientist who is enamored with her, but she doesn’t share his infatuation. Her character isn’t defined by any kind of a romantic interest. Like many good action heroes, her character is defined by the object of her quest.

If you’re looking for a good steampunk romp, it’s hard to go wrong with The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec. In its way, it’s very much an heir to Jules Verne’s own extraordinary adventures. Perhaps being a countryman of Jules Verne or Georges Méliès helps when you set out to make a steampunk film. I think Hollywood could do worse than pay attention to France’s successes in this area.

If you enjoy The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec and would like more rollicking tales featuring strong women, be sure to check out my Clockwork Legion Series.