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Like many of you, over the course of many years I’ve watched many films from many countries. So I’m aware of the cultural sensibilities that can be unique to a specific nation. But cultural differences simply can’t explain or excuse this confusing, impenetrable, obtuse, English-speaking French science fiction film. Please believe me when I write that I really tried to pay attention, trying to piece together the various threads as they were revealed, trying to establish some coherent theme and overarching plotline. I think I came to understand a general story, but much of the smaller plot devices and details continue to elude me.

The film is set in a rather bleak and dilapidated New York City of 2095. The skyline is not recognizable, full of tall buildings and cables that guide and power the current concept of automobile. They are a blend of 1950s retrograde bodywork and undefined propulsion systems that can levitate the car to attach a power boom to guide wires. Genetic engineering and biological manipulation has been going on for decades. As in the Ghost in the Shell series, electronics are also embedded in people to enhance or repair. A powerful corporation named Eugenics, which casts an entirely different slant on the nature of the changes to humanity, seems to have very significant influence.

From the viewers’ perspective, the population appears to be both normal and bizarre. And for the filmmakers to implement this concept, the film is liberally sprinkled with photorealistic fully CGI people and people whose heads are replaced with CGI. Cars, buildings, backgrounds, and sets also are frequently CGI. Alas, the effects are not all that convincing; they simply don’t come up to the quality of CG illusions we’ve come to expect. The supplements reveal that new software was developed for this film; the implication is that the special effects house is relatively new and inexperienced. But CGI is the least of this film’s problems; the real issue is the vague and inconsistent script.

I’ll try to summarize as best I can… Hovering over New York City is a vast pyramid that everyone seems to ignore. Within it is the embodiment of three ancient Egyptian gods; predominantly nude, only their CG genitals are hidden from view. Horus, a man-bird with the head of a falcon, leaves the confines of the floating pyramid to inhabit a man’s body. While in that body, he’s obsessed with finding and impregnating a rare female alien, the only one of her kind on Earth capable of carrying his offspring and secure his immortality. He has only seven days.

Horus breaks a man out of suspended animation who was sentenced to confinement many years before, Nikopol (Thomas Kretschmann), although how one is either punished or rehabilitated by being dreamlessly asleep escapes me. As a consequence of his confinement, Nikopol is arguably the only man on Earth who has had no genetic manipulation or electronic prosthetic installed. Even before he was released, he’d become a symbol for a protest movement that objects to man interfering with the evolution of mankind. But his status as an icon doesn’t interest Horus; the god inhabits the unspoiled man’s body and mind, controlling his actions.

The sexual object of this god’s desire is a whitish-blue skinned alien woman with blue feather-like hair and dark blue nipples; her name is Jill (Linda Hardy). We’re introduced to her when she’s apparently kidnapped off the street with other hapless victims, the target of experimentation or genetic manipulation by Eugenics. She attracts the attention of a lead scientist, Dr. Elma Turner (Charlotte Rampling), who rescues her from experimentation and takes her under her wing. The good doctor’s interest is biological; she wants to study the alien and come to understand her down to her genes. But Jill is being watched over by another being, a dark figure whose face is obscured by black wrappings. He’s having her take pills that are slowly transforming her from alien to human (for what reason is never disclosed).

What follows is the interaction among these beings, the attempts by Eugenics to have Nikopol assassinated and removed as an inspiration to the protest movement, inappropriately unforceful rapes, impenetrable dialog, inexplicable plotlines, hidden and never revealed motivations, and, can you believe it in a French film, a happy ending.

The screenplay was written by Enki Bilal, the man who created the comic book on which Immortal was based; he also directed. I think we found the problem. Such adaptations need the vision and perception of people who have no emotional investment as they translate the comic book to the big screen. I suspect Mr. Pilal was a little too close to the work. It’s a rare film that I find so badly conceived and so inexplicably executed that I’m compelled to warn you away in the strongest possible terms. Watch Immortal at your peril.

The Video: How Does The Disc Look?

As if the screenwriting wasn’t insulting enough, this is the most unimpressive high definition disc I’ve seen to date. The film’s theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1 may be presented in a transfer compressed with the AVC video CODEC, but it sure looks like standard definition to me. Halos are intrusive, no better than a run of the mill DVD. Small object detail and finely grained textures are no better than a good DVD’s. From a stylistic point of view, most of the scenes, particularly those outdoors, are almost monochrome, with a gray-blue tint and patches of color, like faces or a piece of clothing. Indoors, things can be a bit more colorful, but the palette remains subdued. Video dynamic range is good, from deep blacks to bright whites. But what’s the point; this simply doesn’t look like a Blu-ray Disc.

The Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

Immortal isn’t through disappointing the viewer yet. The lossless TrueHD 5.1 track puts the front center channel in the front right channel and the left surround remains silent, even though the right surround is reasonably active. I could spend time describing the timbre and accuracy of the audio elements, but what’s the point? This TrueHD track was not integrated properly into the transfer.

A second English track in the format of stereo has proper channel distribution, so the problem with the TrueHD track clearly isn’t the fault of the source stems.

The optional subtitles are in English SDH, French, and Spanish.

The Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

There are two featurettes and a collection of trailers. The Special Effects featurette (10:50, 1.33:, SD) concentrates on the technology brought to bear to create the characters and settings. It’s here that it was revealed that eighteen programs had to be developed to pull it off. The artists discuss the nature of their designs.

In the Making-of Immortal featurette (30:32, 1.33:1, SD), we learn about the concepts, the artistic goals, the filming techniques, the virtual sets, the green screen work, and so on. It’s reasonably comprehensive, but since I’m warning you off, the quality of the supplement is moot.

Last is a collection of trailers, including: Immortal; Sukiyaki Western Django; War, Inc.; Blood Brothers; and, Cyborg Soldier.

The 103-minute film is organized into twelve chapters.

Final Thoughts

Confusing plotlines, incoherent dialog, and annoyingly incomprehensible character motives sabotage what could have been an imaginative, science fiction romp. Add to that a botched video presentation and a flawed audio presentation, and I have to end with buyer beware.