Luc Besson
Adèle e l'enigma del faraone

I have to say that, as a long-time admirer of Luc Besson, this film left me puzzled... was there a need for yet another film in the wake of "Belfagor" or "Vidocq"? Was there a need to bring yet another Lara Croft to the screen for yet another graphic novel?...

Adèle Blanc-Sec is an intrepid adventurer in search of the sarcophagus containing the remains of Ramses II's personal physician, hoping to resurrect him and use his knowledge to bring her sister back to life, who has been in a coma for several years due to her. Assisting her is an elderly scientist who has mastered paranormal powers, such as bringing the dead back to life; but even the unborn, considering the sudden hatching of a pterodactyl egg and the subsequent escape of the tenant from the museum where it was kept, now free to roam around Paris causing damage here and there.

After the initial part of the film focused on the search for the sarcophagus, the interest drops significantly, with some scenes that are supposed to be humorous (the repeated attempts of the protagonist to break the professor out of prison) that miss the mark; others do hit it: the flashback of the accident that caused the sister's coma, or the cliché of the bumbling suitor following the protagonist; and perhaps especially the clumsy and overweight character of the inspector tasked with capturing the animal on the loose. Up to this point, let's say the film could still keep the spark of interest alive until the final part, consisting of quasi-comic situations with mummies brought back to life, poorly integrated at a cohesive level with the plot, causing the interest to collapse completely.

The contribution of the protagonist, with her brazen and tenacious presence, is undoubtedly among the film's merits, even though not at the heights of the director's previous muse (and ex-wife) (Milla Jovovich), and if the film were not by Luc Besson, with all the expectations that entails, it might have been more appreciated, but in any case, no more than that, because adventure films are a genre that is now well-shaped, complete with respective cults - a canon that I doubt this work can be a part of in any way.