XIII

Excellent series indeed! The story seems to be very close to the original graphic novel, except for the first part. They head to change the opening sequence in the comic, or the way XIII (Jason, or is he?)lost his memory. The writer of the comic novel (Jean Van Hamme - Belgian)admitted that he stole this scene from the book (written by Ludlum)that was the original story line for the Jason Bourne-trilogy.

In pre-Obama times, the producers dared in their future to have a non Caucasian male for a president. Good on them!

Must see for all graphic novel lovers! This one will put Belgian graphic novels on the international map again. Tintin with an attitude!

I have never played the computer game and haven't read the comic series yet, but after watching this movie, I will surely try to check both things out! It is true that this movie has many similarities to The Bourne series and that many films have the same concept and that's the reason why I don't give this movie a top rating.

But the story is well thought, there are many nice action elements, a lot of tension, some surprises and a little twist in the ending. The acting is well done, especially by the bad boys, but not outstanding. The movie is well directed and has some really good images and the dialogues are also well composed unlike many other films of the genre, you can really see that there has been some budget in this movie and that it is a high quality product. It is sad that the movie hasn't been in every country's cinemas though. I watched the about 180 minutes long version in one shot as it came out on DVD and I didn't find a single minute of boredom in the film what is quite exceptional.

In conclusion, this movie is more creative than many other similar movies with the same ideas and very entertaining so that I can't understand most of the negative critics. This movie is nothing revolutionary, but still one of the best of its kind.

I've been a fan of the comics since I first read them years ago, so I've approached every adaptation I have found with a hope that it would do them justice, and a fear that it wouldn't. And yes, this is similar to the Bourne series, as I understand it, Van Hamme, the author, liked the Ludlum book(s?), and used some of the same ideas. This and the 2003 video game both get certain(but not necessarily the same) things right, whilst failing on others. In tone, this comes fairly close. It's disturbing, dark and, at times, the ideas in this are brutal. The humor in this, while it's relatively limited(and, frankly, doesn't all work, it can feel forced), is perhaps a tad much. The overall accuracy is reasonable, and several changes do make sense. They updated the story to present day(it was, when it was a graphic novel, as well, but the first one came out 14 years ago), and thus also made it more modern, adding tech and such, without that taking over. Several of the characters are changed(a couple are combined, as well) and not all of the casting makes perfect sense(what on Earth happened to Jones? Sure, she looks the part, but that's about it). The plot is interesting and captured and kept my attention throughout. It doesn't develop entirely the same, though a good bit of the core of it is intact. The awesome abilities are definitely still there. Dorff and Kilmer are great. I've heard this compared to the television show 24, and I suppose I can see why. It should be noted that not all of those aspects were foreign to this franchise before this hit small screens. Episode 1 ends in a way that ought to get viewers back for the second half(which starts with repetitions of plenty of what happened in the first one) of the three hour running time. The ending is not going to satisfy everyone, however, the source material taken into account, and the fact that it isn't easy to finish it, especially in this amount of time. The cinematography and editing are excellent, the action is very well-done and exciting. The music is well-done. The production values leave little to be desired. The acting varies, as does the dialog, but there are cool moments in this. This isn't terribly graphically violent, and there's no sex. Still, it is not intended for children, and it doesn't feel like it was made to be less strong. Language is mild and infrequent, if even that. I recommend this to fans of the original(as with any other translation from one medium to another, do not expect everything to be the same), as well as anyone who enjoys this type of film/mini. 7/10

Several reviews compare this to the Bourne series and I don't think it makes sense. This is not a super production and you cannot expect the same level of detail than the million $$ Bourne series. However, the plot is very good and really gripping plus the characters are quite interesting. In addition there is a good amount of action - maybe not the most revolutionary action scenes - and enough to keep you gripped from the beginning to the end of the show. The acting is good but don't expect anything too deep with complex personalities and characters. Someone compared this to Blade with Stephen Dorff, and IMO the acting is globally way better than Blade.

I read some of the bad reviews there and I was worried something would be silly in the middle of the plot, but no. This is one of the best spy/action TV miniseries I have seen.

The quality of this should be expected. For a TV mini-series, it's not terrible, but it's not that great either.

The Jason Bourne comparisons are warranted, as we open with an event, and then a trained assassin is found with no knowledge of who he is, or how he got to where he was dumped.

Then follows a bunch of action, a lot of discovery, and some pretty unbelievable set ups & sequences.

I'm just amazed at how bad Stephen Dorff is as an actor. I really enjoyed him in Blade, and I liked him in a few other movies that I saw after that. In this, he's just plain bad. He says all of his lines in a strained manner, as if he's trying to show that he's just a general bad ass. I couldn't grasp why he was trying so hard to prove that he's a tough guy. If you want to compare Bourne to this, Damon plays Bourne with restraint. He doesn't need to prove he's a bad ass by speaking. His actions do that. Dorff shows no remorse for anything he does. In this type of movie, we have to believe that Dorff's character wants to really find out what happened to him, but because of the way he delivers his lines, it's almost as if he doesn't really care, he just wants to kill anyone involved in putting him in these situations.

I had to remind myself continually that this is a made for TV mini-series, which is credit to the cinematographer, and the director. Most of the action sequences are pretty intense, and not campy. The hand to hand combat scenes are especially crisp, and were a highlight for me.

There were still many sequences of events that were just terrible, and didn't fit any sort of realistic time line, Dorff recovers from major injuries in record time, people travel massive distances in 30 minutes as if they were telaported there. Again, it's TV so I can suspend my disbelief a little for these types of things.

One major plus is Catrina Murino as Sam. She is GORGEOUS and worth watching. I couldn't take my eyes off her every time she was on the screen. I wish they would have done more with her character, and I really hope to see more of her in upcoming movies. Her acting was also very believable, even though there's no way someone that good looking just lives in New York as a resident, and isn't a model or celebrity. I remember her from Casino Royale, and she did well there also.

Val Kilmer also does a pretty good job in his role. He's more of a complimentary player in this movie. He's generally ominous as the bad commander, and it's a pretty believable turn.

If you have nothing better to do but watch a fun little mini-series, I would say go for it, but I can't recommend you go out of your way to find this thing, as there's nothing special to report.