The Heir Apparent: Largo Winch

2008
6.4| 1h48m| en
Details

After a powerful billionaire is murdered, his secret adoptive son must race to prove his legitimacy, find his father's killers and stop them from taking over his financial empire.

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Reviews

Ceticultsot Beautiful, moving film.
Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.
StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.
Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.
dbdumonteil Among all the comic strips adapted for the screen ,"Largo Winch" is somewhat better than the movies made before (Tintin,Asterix,Michel Vaillant,Blueberry etc) .The reason can be found in the very nature of Francq /Van Hamme 's cartoon books :they are more "realistic " than their peers' works,their screenplays are cinema stories with astute flashbacks blending the present with the past ,they are aimed at the teenagers/young adults market.The subject (dough is in the center of the plot) may repel some but Largo is not that much interested in it and the last sequence (faithful to the book ,except for a detail)shows a man talking with a little boy ,displaying nostalgia for a childhood in a tender family.(the cover of the second book shows two Largo:as a man and as a boy,the man has his hand on his former self's shoulder.)The scenes in the prison are botched and the 100 pages of the book are treated in less than an hour.So the necessity(?) to introduce a second heir and to turn Scott-Thomas's character into a villain .Let's say it:the movie is not on a par with the book ;the story took place in New York,they chose Hong Kong instead ,which is not a bad choice ,but the purple passages lack the strength they had on the paper:the death of the tycoon,sapped by cancer,the hellish Turkish prisons (a nod at "Midnight express"?),and the scenes on the island which verge on melodrama .But the biggest surprise is the complete absence of Simon Ovronnaz who appeared on page 19 and would be to Winch what Captain Haddock is to Tintin.Some suggest they save the character for Largo Winch II which is to be released next February .
Marcel Borst I just watched this movie during breakfast in my holiday.. Turned on the TV and saw Micky Manolovic in an international movie. I love this actor and know him from excellent performances in especially "Underground" and "When father was away on business".. This movie being very different than the Kusturica movies as I later realized still kept me watching. I love movies which contain different languages. Bosnian, Croatian, French, English.. it was great. OK so I understood from other reviews that the languages weren't always correct.. One person talking Bosnian while the other replied in Servian, annoying for the people who actually understand it but for me its always better than bad Russian accents in English representing Eastern European languages. Right? Having no knowledge of the original comic book I went totally free in the movie and found it very nice,intelligent and fast-packed with slick slight liked Bourne identity action scenes. Locations were beautiful, especially the magnificent island later in the film. And the business deal scenes were interesting as well. I also understood that the movie wasn't at all in comparison with the comic-book and lots of things were not as they should have been.. This could also be annoying IF you red the graphic novel.. But as I described with me this wasn't the case so I could enjoy it. Have to say that Manolovic for me played an important role for keeping my attention in the beginning because I didn't know were I was going into.. (I really like the actor and truly recommend almost all his movies) So don't expect much of it if you like the graphic novel but if you don't know it this french movie will certainly entertain you while waking up on your free day having breakfast/lunch whatever.. I rate it somewhere between 6 and 6.5
LucasNorth Right from the opening with the brutal murder of billionaire, Neiro Winch, to the end of the film with Largo finally accepting who he is, Jerome Salle, has created a strong, character driven, action film in adapting Jean Van Hamme and Philippe Francq's fantastic graphic novel. From the introduction of Largo - saving a girl from very large soldiers - Salle keeps the story and character beats strong throughout his action sequences. And the way he frames his shots truly shows off the beauty of the world wide setting of a Largo Winch story.The story is very well done, both in writing and as shown on the screen, concentrating on Largo's life as he searches for his place in life as oppose to action sequence after action sequence.Tomer Sisley is spectacular as Largo Winch. Playing the role with passion, wit and cockiness. He owns the screen when he's on it and doesn't give an inch to any of the extremely strong actors he's playing against. Kristen Scott Thomas is deliciously slimy as Group W's number two. She needs to play villains more often. My personal favourite scenes are every one with Tomer Sisley and Karel Roden together. Two fantastic actors that both went for it and didn't give an inch to the other.This is a fantastic action film that has more heart and story then most north American films. Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys well written action/espionage film.
femsoufem First of all, if you'r a fan of the comic, well, you'll be VERY disappointed I'm sure ! Low budget movie !!! Largo is supposed to be Serbian in the comic, now suddenly he becomes croatian, pfff! chicken producers, it gave some spice and guts to the comic ( By the way, in the film, his father speaks Serbian and he speaks croatian... Lol ). The striking N.Y. Winch building becomes a common average-small yacht in H.K. The good looking Largo becomes some unshaved Tzigan/Turkish looking guy. Freddy the cool 'scarface' pilot becomes some fat, out of shape, sad, average guy. Simon, Largo's good buddy, does not exist at all !? He gave some pepper ! Largo doesn't throw knifes at all, but just some snake stares... The whole story is confused and looks like a pretentious TV-film. French directors and producers, if you don't have the money, the ability or the technology to adapt correctly the comic, please stick to some romance shooted in Paris. Very very bad film, good thing I just rented it, don't count on me to watch the sequel ( If there is any ! ).