Simply A Masterpiece

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

I loved the comic. Really nicely done and interesting story where we followed XIII through the painstaking puzzling to understand what he went through and who he was.Here we're presented with everything from the start, so the surprise effects are all gone. This of course makes the whole setup vanish, and suddenly the miniseries is nothing more than just a Bourne-copy - and very mediocre one too.The miniseries has sloppy editing, bad acting, a tremendously stupid and boring "conspiracy" and some really nutty 1980's styled scenes. We have a professional "agent" leaving a trail of bodies behind him for anyone to see. He calls up his enemies so they can know he's coming for them. Basically, he's so stupid that we just stops to care.There are a few nice things in this series though. Stephen Dorph is on his way to become a new Jason Statham. His stunts are good, and he's doing the best he can with the material he has.Best is however Greg Bryk as Amos - the only intelligent person in the whole thing. I both like the actor AND the characters, which is saying a lot when it comes to this mess.Overall, this is just something you'd see if you don't have anything else to watch. Otherwise, skip it. It's not worth the time investment.

***spoiler alert*** As a Belgian I'am a big fan of the original comic books of XIII. I own them all. There're 19 books who tell the complete story of XIII and now a second series has started more focusing on the other characters from the original series like how the Mongoose became the contract-killer as we know him.I saw an article somewhere that said this mini series would be the story of the events from the first two books in the series originally called 'The Day of The Black Sun' and 'Where the Indian goes'. I just saw the 2 episodes and I think there's maybe 20% left of the original XIII story. How disappointing !!! The events you see are from the first 5 books skipping book 3 and 4 'All the Tears of Hell' (XIII in prison) and 'SPADS' (XIII back in training) for some reason. There're also some parts of the 8th book in the series called 'XIII against I' to create an open ending. They changed so many things that are important in the complete mystery. Why ? After the 4 first books you get the 5th one called 'Red Alert'. That looks a little bit (with a lot of imagination) like the events in the second part of the movie, but there's never a chemical bomb involved for instance. Chemical bombs is the game of Jack Bauer in 24, not of XIII. Other strange changes are for instance the character of Sally Sheridan. She doesn't exist in the comics. It's Wally's brother William Sheridian that's been shot at the beginning. XIII doesn't come down with a parachute, he washes up on a shore and the events that follow do not happen in a snowy landscape. The General Carrington in the books is a big guy and a heavy cigar smoker. You almost never see him without his cigar. He looks a bit like actor Lee Marvin. Stephen McHattie doesn't look like the Carrington from the books at all. The General is not even NSA in the books, he's a general in the normal military but former commander of SPADS (Special Assault and Destroying Sections) a special unit that trained XIII. Colonel Amos is (probably) NSA, but in the books he's an old man (60 - 65 years old) not the young guy as played by Greg Bryk. The Mongoose is a creepy looking bald guy who doesn't die in the first 5 books this movie is based on. The incidents from XIII's past happened in South America not in Afghanistan. Parts of the clues that will lead to the true identity of XIII will be found in South America not in Afghanistan at all. Where are Felicity Kendall, Betty Barnowsky and the terrible Irina Svetlanova ? Three very important recurring characters in the books. All gone !!!This movie looks nice if you don't know the books. It's nice entertainment if you like an action movie like there're 12 in a dozen. If you know the books you would be very disappointed too I guess. This could have been done a lot better. They should have made a single episode of each book and should have stayed on the original storyline with a cast that looks at least a bit like the characters in the books. You don't give Batman a green cape or Superman a yellow suit and red hair do you ? They did the same in the past with Largo Winch (from the same author) and now they're doing it with XIII. They turn one of the best comic book series ever made into an ordinary 2 episode TV-movie. If they would ask me to write the screenplay I would make something great of it...at least better then the two episodes I just saw. It's always been my big dream to write the screenplay for a XIII TV-series and maybe it's time to start writing on it and then go and talk with author Jean Van Hamme. I really was looking forward to see this production, but I'am very disappointed now. I hope they once will make a better series of it that will cover the complete and true XIII mystery as written by the comic book author and not some kind of digest told in 3 hours. The story of XIII is way to complex to tell in just 3 hours.

I thought this miniseries was OK. Not outstanding, not too overdone. I recognized a lot of stuff from the game XIII, though I enjoyed the things they changed in the story. The comparison to Bourne only goes for 'the agent with memory-loss'. The story is completely different, and in my opinion the plot is way better. It's only a shame that this plot gets degraded by the open ending, which I also hated in the game.Possibly the best thing about this miniseries is that it's two movies, instead of one. They never would've fit the entire story in one movie and still make sense. Plus it's double the pleasure for the viewer.The acting was fine in general. Also Sam, played by Caterina Murino who featured in Casino Royale, was a good twist in the original story. As far as conspiracies go, this is a good one to enjoy watching.

Good movie worth watching for entertainment. I liked Shooter, so this is a excellent concept. I has lots of suspense, excellent combat moves, and the plot is interesting. I love these type of movies. I am watching it now as I post this comment. Micheal and Val I have always been a fan on their work. The Val character is similar to the role be played in "Spartan". Steve shows the perfect style of a efficient killer with a heart of gold. I think this movie was made with the concept the Hillary would have won the election. I believe the same thing happen with "24" using a female in the "Oval Office" Oh well who knew. Anyway, so far I have been totally entertained. Look forward to more drama and high adventure.