The Return of James Battle

A French alien-drama, which immediately tells you it's probably not going to be good, as French dramas tend to be random and highly pretentious. And lo, behold, it was so: Atomik Circus is craptacular. A random, pointless mess. Started off interestingly enough but once the aliens arrive, the movie spins out of control. Avoid.

This movie is just about impossible to fit into a genre, and that's pretty much a good thing. If you've ever seen the Japanese movie Wild Zero (which is also awesome), then it kind of helps to understand this movie. It's a bit of absurd comedy, action/thriller, and horror. The great thing is how abruptly it transitions between the genres and yet still have it work. Any sort of breakdown of the plot would not really do it justice. The essential bit is a strange group of beings from another dimension invading a small town. But there's so much more in terms of sub plots and the film explores them just as much. The end is a bit of a let down, but the rest of the ride is just a ton of fun if for no other reason than it's so crazy.

Energetic and frequently mind-blowing excursion into manic cinema, this is a thoroughly enjoyable cross-genre science fiction tale – starts out as a love story between a backwoods wannabe rock starlet Concia (Vanessa Paradis, who has a face worth staring at for decades - damn you Johnny Depp!!) and a down-on-his-luck motorcycle stunt performer James (Brit actor Jason Flemyng); but her dad (respected French actor Jean-Pierre Marielle; aka the murdered professor from DA VINCI CODE) frames him for an accident and he goes to jail; but he escapes to try and be reunited with her. Meanwhile, face-sucking aliens land and begin decimating the populace, while in James' absence a chauvinistic entrepreneur claiming to be big in the music business tries to woo Concia with promises of stardom, while all manner of strange and warped townspeople have various activities and agendas of their own. It all explodes into an immense action climax. Filmed with hyper energy, most of its low budget spent on pretty convincing CGI effects for the aliens (I mean, they even have a mechanical dog instead of a real dog!), it's a thoroughly wonderful cinematic insanity, with something astonishing, humorous, disturbing, or very appealing at every turn.

That's a lot of halves! This is just your average sci-fi/musical/comedy/gore/action French film! A very bizarre mix of different things that doesn't completely gel but has some interesting moments. Jason Flyming and Vanessa Paradis (that's Mrs. Johnny Depp to you) star as two lovers who are being kept apart by a angry father in a dusty small town that is getting ready to run their annual talent show competition. Then aliens attack. You can tell the directors were trying to go for that "all out" approach like a Peter Jackson flick, but they never fully succeed. The singing dog is nice though. Benoît Poelvoorde (the hit-man from MAN BITES DOG) co-stars as a sleazy talent agent and perhaps gives the best performance.

I discovered this picture at a surprise showing on 2004's Sitges Film Festival, and it was a very appealing surprise. As I was completely blank about what was I going to see, it all started strange (an astronaut? But then, no, this is not an astronaut story...), then the story started to develop in very familiar tones (to me, a Spanish viewer, it echoed a mix of Alex de la Iglesia, Santiago Segura and Karra Elejalde) with the sci-fi and horror touch slowly advancing as a secondary storyline. That was one of the best ideas for the movie: not making the fantastic part the main one, but showing how a very used cinema topic (the alien invasion) affected the everyday life of a lost in the swamp "village" (although it could have been any of your back country small villages, any Western country you live in). The end was strange (there is were I got the idea of Atomik Circus being perhaps an European comic book, because both the name and the ending is very typical of European short sci-fi comic books), but the Lovecraftian reference was bot inspired and unexpected, and I loved it. All in all, an 8 (some of the acting was a bit so-so), and an enjoyable movie.

Well ... seeing it you can think that there will be something, you're saying to yourself there has to be something ... There is no! let's put it another way. You probably felt on one of those fantastic TV movies one day, the Z series ones, when you are so desperate that you are even watching it! This movie is worst than those. It looks like they tried to make one of them, but they missed the point! If they can be good sometimes, it's because they're thinking seriously of themselves and this create this unique ambiance. Nothing like that in there. To put a long story short, save your time, read TV magazine, DO SOMETHING ELSE! but if you really have to, then keep the remote nearby. Yours truly ;)

maybe later i'll chill out and be able to judge more objectively - but with a fresh impression of just seen movie - it is definitely the worst i have ever seen. and such an impression worths sharing. any plot doesn't exist at all acting appearances are absent. including that of Vanessa Paradis - the one actress who could rise expectations. as a fiction movie, it does not meet expectations of spectacularity (do i spell right?) it makes farce of all genres, referred to it: nor horror, neither sci-fi, comedy nor adventure. the film is not one of them, rather a grotesque of itself. may be for one exception of musical appearance of an original singer - and that's what gives to 'atomik circus' not a negative evaluation or 1(awful) but 2/10

This definitely stroke below my lowest move fan's expectations. Aliens strike a remote country village during a song contest. Vanessa Paradis is the village's only music talent and daughter of the bartender. Her convict boyfriend is in town after escaping from prison, so is Benoit Poelvoorde as a funky impresario on a business trip. Aliens strike and everybody dies in a pseudo-arty style, where gore meets spaghetti western. The girl and the convict land another dimension (sic) and the credits finally appear. Do yourself a favor and avoid this one. All you will miss are the few funny lines of B. Poelvoorde who once again demonstrates natural comedic talent - although not hugely different from past performances e.g. Podium, Le Vélo,...

Atomik Circus is a crazy mix of comedy, musical, sci-fi and horror which, despite some great effects and a good deal of imagination, ultimately fails due to a poorly developed script and some bad pacing. The movie takes so long in introducing its offbeat characters that an hour passes before anything very interesting happens; by then, there isn't enough time left to develop a decent plot or even fit in a satisfying ending. Jason Flemyng play James Battle, a stuntman who is jailed when a disastrous motorcycle jump results in the destruction of the Sam Paradiso bar, owned by Bosco, influential citizen of Skotlett, a backwater town inhabited mostly by weirdos—but also by Concia (Vanessa Paradis), Bosco's daughter and girlfriend of James. Enter sleazy impresario Alan Chiasse (Benoit Poelvoorde) who pretends to be interested in promoting Concia's musical career, but who is really only interested in getting into her pants. As Alan is trying his best to seduce Concia, James is doing his utmost to reach his woman, having busted out of prison. When James finally arrives at Skotlett, he not only finds his girl being pawed at by sleaze-bag Alan, but he also discovers that the town is under attack from face sucking tentacled creatures from another dimension. The film only really gets going at this point, and it is here that we witness some great CGI monsters and lashings of gore, as the Lovecraftian beasts dismember and decapitate the helpless inhabitants of Skotlett. If the first 60 minutes had contained some of this crazy OTT action, I would have no hesitation in recommending Atomik Circus to fans of bizarre cinema; however, no amount of gore in the closing moments can make up for the tedious and disjointed first hour. And the ending is just downright bizarre....

An underground French treat. A stuntman is imprisoned for accidental destruction of his fiancée's father's bar. He escapes and searches desperately for his sweetheart. A couple of things get in his way. For a start starfish-like creatures decapitate drunk revellers and face-sucking aliens abound. This was a trip! A french take on Bayou hospitality and fight for survival had me reeling hysterically whilst the leads had me enraptured. James Fleyming speaking french like a pro! Vanessa Paradis acting naturally and singing cool tunes that created a frenetic ambiance. The jambalayic melting pot of film genres was superb.