The ‘Carlos’ I Saw Came Up, Well . . . Short.

Edgar Ramirez in "Carlos"

I knew something was amiss. I scanned several reviews of the movie “Carlos.” Many critics are in love with the film. So, I watched it. It was pretty good, but not that good. And I was confused. I kept thinking, something is not right. Why would so many respected critics think so highly of this movie? Then I read that “Carlos” was originally a 5 1/2 hour French TV miniseries. The movie version I watched was about half that long.

Now mind you, I didn’t really want to sacrifice 5.5 hours of my life for a movie. But I was actually looking forward to seeing the epic everyone was raving over. I didn’t see that film. The shorter version was simply a taste of what I imagine is a good film. In my version, there were weird and massive jumps in plot, which left me thinking, wait–they were just here, now they’re there; and that last event lasted only a few seconds, and now we’re off to another event. And why is he doing that?

Maybe in the future I’ll be able to watch the whole movie. Until then, I’m left with the following impressions: Edgar Ramirez, the actor portraying Carlos, is amazing in the film. The movie, directed by Olivier Assayas, pays a lot of attention to detail. The film’s style conveys urgency, suspense, realism and vivid color. And while much of the film seems very good to me, ultimately, I suspect I may not think as highly of it as some other critics. I have more opinions, but I don’t think I can give an adequate review. If nothing else, my experience will warn others–you might be better off looking for the full-length version.