Largo Winch II

This movie didn't work for me. Tried to stay interested but gave up after half an hour. A bit predictable, disconnected with screens moving from one country to another. The storyline seems interesting but execution automated.

Having watched the first Largo Winch movie just a few days earlier, I was excited to view the sequel and it definitely delivered on many levels. The acting by Tomer Sisley as the unwilling billionaire heir Largo Winch is by far stronger than in the original movie, and the other main characters such as the Burman villager Malunai and Alexandre Jung (played by the now late Laurent Terzieff) contributed to the storyline in an endearing and believable way.

The Burma Conspiracy contains most of the elements of a great action movie. Strong acting, colourful characters and as an extra bonus we're also introduced to a comical Eastern European villain. The have upped the pace significantly relative to the first Largo Winch flick, and added a few fairly violent action scenes but nothing that detracts the attention from the main plot in a negative way. The movie takes the viewer on a tour of some exciting locations such as Thailand, Burma, Hong Kong and Switzerland and the scenery is indeed eye-catching even for the most seasoned traveller.

Hollywood Reporter gave this movie an unfair bashing in their recent review. For any honest fan of action movies, The Burma Conspiracy is certainly one not to be missed and most definitely places itself in the upper echelons of releases in this genre to have hit the cinema in the last few years. It is indeed quite a shame that cinema distribution outside the Francophone countries has been fairly limited.

(2011) The Burma Conspiracy: Largo Winch II (In French with English subtitles) ACTION

As an action movie it sucks because throughout the entire film, there's like three action sequences- one, in the beginning which involves a car chase, awfully photographed and acted, the second one, was a fight scene that's obviously inspired by the Jason Bourne movies probably the best thing through this entire film without it being any better than what I've seen before, and finally sometime near the end, when Winch was jumping out of a plane via James Bond, but looks much more fake. The plot centers on many underhanded dealings and double crosses, so many in fact, that I didn't want to see it anymore, motivating me to use a fast forward button while playing and at the same time and totally ignoring much of it's English subtitle dialogue. Yes, it's that excruciating, and without those possible options about how I can view this, I would have given this film a much lower rating. Cut the preliminaries, how's the action sequences going to be like since the plot is extremely boring and very routine.

Strong banzi flavor, long-legged man master second everything. The plot is chaotic, the characters are complicated and their faces are blurred. Many of the plots in the plot do not know what to say, and many pits are not filled in.

Selling an empire to fund a humanitarian foundation? Sounds noble, but in Largo Winch's world, it's like asking Elon Musk to become a Buddhist monk. It reeks of disaster, and naturally, everything goes south. Accused of crimes against humanity-because shoplifting would've been too mundane-our rumpled-suit billionaire has to play Indiana Jones in the Burmese jungle. Between convoluted twists and flashbacks that smell like discount cologne, this feels more like The Bold and the Beautiful pretending to be a thriller.

Sharon Stone joins the cast, and you wonder if it's a nod to Basic Instinct or a result of bad financial planning. Her character, who probably seemed badass on paper, barely makes an impact, instead serving as a "look, we're legit!" token. It's doubtful she even read the script before signing on. The result? She's as relevant to the plot as a rubber duck in a crocodile-infested swamp.

Comic purists will be screaming into the void. Once again, the writers have mashed multiple graphic novels together like toddlers with a 1000-piece puzzle. The storylines overlap, intertwine, and ultimately collapse under their own weight. It's entertaining, sure, but feels like watered-down whiskey-lacking the punch. A faithful adaptation would've been appreciated, but fidelity, it seems, isn't this franchise's strong suit.

Then there's the casting blunder. Swapping an actor between films is the kind of faux pas that immediately raises eyebrows. Freddy morphs into someone entirely new, as if no one would notice. But we noticed, Jérôme Salle. It's like slapping a Ferrari sticker on a Dacia-nice try, but it doesn't fly.

The action scenes partially redeem the film. They're paced well and keep things moving, but they're nothing groundbreaking. Tomer Sisley tries his best to embody a believable Largo, but he still falls short. He lacks that presence, that intangible "something" that could've made the film a guilty pleasure. Instead, it's more "meh, it's watchable."

Largo Winch II is like reheated leftovers in a microwave-it'll do in a pinch but lacks flavor. Between Sharon Stone's underutilized role, a wobbly cast, and plots hacked apart with a machete, the film misses out on its potential. Entertaining? Yes. Unforgettable? Definitely not. But hey, it's an okay way to kill an evening, and at least the Burmese scenery is gorgeous.