Why is Asterix and Obelix The Middle Kingdom already considered a cinematic disaster? For the time being, at the time of the publication of our review, we obviously do not know if the film will be a commercial failure. It is not impossible that the general public rushes en masse into the theaters, especially since the film has a family aura that will seduce young audiences who will not see all the problems that are linked to Pathé Gaumont’s blockbuster . With the arrival of the winter holidays, the film is therefore a very good candidate for a family movie screening without the fuss. In addition, the cast did not hesitate to cast a wide net, from French comedians to Swedish footballers, including singers, rappers, YouTubers and even a few influencers. For Pathé big shots, the cocktail tasted like a magic potion, when in reality it was just a time bomb. Because artistically and cinematographically, Asterix and Obelix The Middle Kingdom is indeed the film that succumbed to all the traps that it had to avoid.
The first mistake is to have tried to redo an Asterix and Obelix Mission Cleopatra, a repetition, an ersatz. And that’s understandable, with more than 14 million admissions in 2002 and an untouchable aura of cult film, Alain Chabat’s film is still the milestone to reach. Especially in terms of humor and offbeat tone, we didn’t manage to do better. Asterix and Obelix Mission Cleopatra has entered into legend and there will be no equivalent; at least, as long as we try to copy it. You have to get used to the idea that the film belongs to its time and a Canal+ spirit that no longer exists today, and trying to reproduce the same pattern is an inevitable failure. Another trap you shouldn’t fall into, making a “buddies” film with a tangle of sketches, each crappier than the next. And unfortunately, Asterix and Obelix The Middle Empire plunged head first into what should not be done, namely to reproduce what had been done with Asterix and the Olympic Games in 2008, by integrating a maximum of such useless cameos. how annoying. The thing is that Asterix and the Olympic Games had at least had the decency to wait until the end of the film to throw all these superstars at us who didn’t know how to play comedy.
For The Empire of the Middle, all these guests were integrated into the structure of the film and were even an integral part of the promotional campaign. And that is symptomatic of the big names in production who think that fitting in a maximum of personalities from all walks of life will bring people back to theaters. Except that it is an error of assessment which has been proven on several occasions, Maurice Barthélémy paid the price with his film “Not very normal activities”, which was headlined by YouTuber Norman Thavaud, whose entries barely exceeded 100,000 tickets. We remember with dismay that all the films made around the fame of YouTubers have each time broken the face. To believe even today that there is a transformation from YouTube to cinema is a matter of great naivety and misunderstanding of the market. And it’s the same for Asterix and Obelix Middle Kingdom, since it was decided that it would be cool to have BigFlo & Oli, Carlito & McFly (a 15 second scene in which they don’t even have a line of dialogue), the singer Angèle, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Ragnar le Breton, Chicandier, the singer M, Philippe Katerine, etc. Making friends work is good, we understand the delirium, but hiring people who know how to act at least is better all the same… There is in this Asterix & Obelix the Middle Empire moments of absolute embarrassment, like the skit of the two brother rappers BigFlo & Oli, where they manage not to be in tune, completely out of step with Ramzy who nevertheless gives of his person. In 30 seconds of screen time, the discomfort is palpable and it feels like being propelled into a Youtube video featuring the two rappers, it seems so unreal.
Zlatan, same delirium. What an unfortunate idea to have called on him? We love the footballer, the character he represents on the field, but clearly he is not yet cut out for comedy. Worse still, and this is a real misunderstanding on the part of Guillaume Canet, Zlatan does not speak French correctly, so much so that it would have had to be subtitled to at least respect the viewer. We know that the filming with Ibrahimovic was complicated, and Guillaume Canet explained this in an interview to explain that the footballer had injured his leg a few weeks before the filming. Professional, Zlatan honored his presence but instead of the day’s work he had to do, he only had three short hours available before taking his plane back to Milan. Result, a sequence integrated with forceps, which pops in the film like an advertising window on a Google Chrome page, and exchanges with Vincent Cassel which border on the ridiculous. Yes, it’s hard to give orders to Zlatan, but at some point you have to remember that we are shooting a 65 million euro cinema film, not a sketch on YouTube broadcast every Sundays… Anyway, the rest of the cast, as 5 stars as it is, is also next to its pumps. And it’s not so much the fault of the actors – well, if a bit much -, but also the direction of the actor who is with the subscribers to the absentees. And it breaks our hearts to say it, but the least convincing actors are my Asian colleagues. Julie Chen, who plays Princess Fu Yi (and whose first role) is completely off the mark, at each of her interventions. It must be said that her level of acting is really low, and even if she has to wear the hat, we must also remind Guillaume Canet that as a director, he must also direct his actors on the set.
Bun Hay Mean also finds himself in the same situation, with sequences that are also quite uncomfortable in terms of acting. However, the man is a regular on the stage, with the difference that he is a stand-up man before being an actor. It can’t be improvised. And it’s even more dramatic when he has to give the reply to Vincent Cassel, who no longer has much to prove in the profession. The contrast between the two actors is tragic, and gives birth to ultra embarrassing scenes. So much so that in our room, the famous screening at the beginning of December with people from the industry, the silence was heavy. Not a laugh, nothing… Overall, there is a problem with the direction of the actors in this Asterix & Obelix The Middle Empire. Even Marion Cotillard does not manage to shine in the role of Cleopatra, since she is in the permanent over-react; no doubt because her role is written as such (they chose the hysterical Cleopatra from the comics), but also because she doesn’t believe in the role she has been given. Moreover, to defuse the bomb and avoid a new bashing on social networks after Nolan’s Batman episode, Marion Cotillard spoke on the set of Yann Barthès’ Quotidien show, saying that her children had it. found a bad actress in the role of Cleopatra, also because she had scenes of tenderness with Vincent Cassel in Caesar. Clever as a ploy, but grilled all the same.
There are only two actors who are doing well in the film in the end: José Garcia who plays Caesar’s bean in crazy mode reminiscent of the good old days of Nowhere Elsewhere with Antoine de Caunes, but also Gilles Lellouch who walks away with honors. He portrays a very good Obelix, tender and with daisies in his eyes, always very fair, even when around him, his comrades are wallowing one after the other. He really managed to make people forget Gérard Depardieu and that was no small feat. Guillaume Canet, meanwhile, lacks panache in his interpretation, probably because his character also lacks interesting writing. The veganism move could have been interesting, but unfortunately it is not exploited in the film, just a sequence at the beginning and at the end of the film. Either way, Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Empire lacks a coherent structure. There is no script, let alone narration. Everything is just a succession of sketches that lack binding and coherence. And I’m not even talking about the humor completely out of step with our times, where we continue to shoot Asian stereotypes with jokes worthy of the Gad Elmaleh / Kev Adams duo when they make up their faces in Chinese. Yes, we are in 2023…
As for the production, not everything is to be thrown away in the film. Overall, it’s quite nice, we feel the money that has been injected on the screen with a particularly successful village of Gauls, fairly convincing costumes, but also some nice visual effects. Nothing transcendent, but there was an effort on this aspect. It’s on the staging side where it actually lacks epic breath. When you hear blocksbuster à la française at 65 million dollars at the cinema, you expect to take it to your head. Doing aerial shots with a drone or a crane is not enough, you also need to have an artistic vision. There, clearly, we are in the staging of tele-novela, with rather shameful martial arts sequences, where the actors do not know how to position themselves and the camera unable to accompany a movement. It’s flat, without ambition and maddeningly rigid. But this critical failure (because it’s unanimous, we were all appalled at the result when we left the screening), it’s not just Guillaume Canet’s fault. It is he who is at the front and who is going to take it in the face, but he is not the only one responsible. It is a collegial work, validated in addition by the Uderzo and Goscinny families who have the right to vote in certain decisions in the film, be aware of this. When Guillaume Canet reveals in an interview that he was chosen according to three criteria by the producers: 1/ having already made a film which was a hit in theaters 2/ having already acted in an English, international film 3/ having had a Caesar, c t is that in terms of choice on the part of the producers, we are totally out of step with what makes the salt of the profession of director. What to remember the remarks that Christophe Gans had had with regard to the state of French cinema today. In France, risk-taking no longer exists, we make low-headed cinema, without any artistic ambition, the idea being to limit damage by betting on themes as simple as meetings of friends around a swimming pool and a BBQ. There is no longer any room to take risks and trust filmmakers who have ambition and talent. It’s not for nothing that Gans finds it difficult to make films today, even though Silent Hill is fortunately coming, but also that Jean-Françàois Richet turns more in the United States than in our beautiful country. But that will be the subject of another video, since I had an interview with the director of Mesrine and the recent Mayday, and you will see that he does not have his tongue in his pocket…
OUR RATING: 3/10