This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The acting in this movie is really good.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Blistering performances.

First of all to gerhard24's comments - the cars at LeMans use normal petrol however, they have a special refueling system with two hoses, one on each side of the car: fuel in one side, air out the other so you're right, they couldn't have refueled at a regular filling station. As for the smoke coming out the front of the Leader: this is perfectly accurate as the Panoz LPM1 (aka "Leader") has it's engine in the front - one of the only racing prototypes at LeMans that does.Anyway, I found the movie really disappointing. I was at LeMans 2002 when the two extra cars ran to film the sequences for this movie. We were all really looking forward to seeing the final result and frankly I was gutted when I did. Lame story with far too many inaccuracies to make it it any way believable: no way anyone could run out onto the track (Odessa) and and and....They missed out completely on building up the atmosphere before the race and from the way it was filmed it looked like only the Vaillants and Leaders were racing.However, in Germany the DVD s well worth buying just for the additional material: making of and a series of complete laps of LeMans filmed from inside the Vaillant (Courage) and the Leader (Panoz). Great stuff! Dump the movie though.

Michel Vaillant is an incredible, artistic visual feast of a film. It is the sexiest film since Top Gun and it is at once shocking, surprising, heroic and humble. A perfect marriage of big Hollywood action and French artistic quality. I am the photo editor at two major international fashion magazines and I went together with the head designer of one of them. We were on the edge our seat throughout the film, never knowing what would come next. We appreciated the sensuality of the under-lying love story. While you knew it was there, it was not focused on, there were no gratuitous sex scenes, in fact I recall only one kiss. But you knew it was there, you could feel it from the characters, in the looks, and in the intimacy of certain moments. Visually, this film is a masterpiece blending three distinct types of cinematography. The first being standard action movie at it's best. Fast cars and big explosions. The second being raw journalism, the kind of filming you'd expect if watching a car race on television and the third being incredibly artistic, turning a single moment into several minutes, or using ultra-high contrast grainy photography to convey mood and emotion. Further, the lighting and sound of the film cannot be ignored as it was superbe. The acting will not win awards, but the actors played their rolls perfectly.They were sexy, but humble. Gentle and caring, quietly heroic. My only issue is their solution to the problem of the actor playing Steve Watson's inability to speak French. It appears they filmed him doing his lines in English and then dubbed it over in bad French. I would have been nice to have an actor who could have spoken a little better French, but it was not overly distracting to the film as a whole. And, they were sexy. They were the dream of what a race car driver should look like, act like. Not only for women, but for men too. Makes you want to go down to the track and cheer. I cannot comment on the film's accuracy to the race world, but then again, it is a movie, adapted from a cartoon and to that end, it is phenomenal.

I read most of the comics of Michael Vaillant when I was a kid, and I think this movie captured the spirit of the comics. The story could be better, but it was entertaining.However I noticed 3 things that in my opinion are errors:*Spoiler Warning*The scene with Vaillant driving around Le Mans Flat out with is eyes closed... Was that really necessary? I think nobody have done it and nobody will because it's impossible.The scene Vaillant and Warson refuel their racing cars in a regular fuel pump, I might be wrong, But the fuel used in racing cars is a lot different from the one we refuel our cars.The final scene with the Leader car in the final lap in the straight blowing is engine, why is the smoke coming out in the front of the car when the engine is at the back?*End Spoiler Warning*If you are a racing fan you should see this movie, don't think much about the storyline and focus on some nice images of cars. For non racing fans, I doubt they enjoy this movie.

First of all I would just like to say that I'm a graduate of the film arts and am currently working as'a commercial/mtv director, so its safe to say that I know a thing or too about film making. I truly believe after watching this film in its original French release that this is without a doubt the best Racing film ever, and probably will remain so for a very long time. Not since Wong Kar Wai's "Ashes of Time" has a film been able to stun me with it's flawless shot composition, breath taking cinematography and frame accurate editing. For those who complain about it's predictable story and poor dubbing. All I have to say are two things; first this ain't a suspense thriller or political drama its a RACING MOVIE so don't expect "The Sixth Sense", second if your a real film enthusiast or anybody who respects a directors work, you would never lower yourself to watching a dubbed film. But then again this film is so gorgeous that anybody with half an eye for cinematography can enjoy it without ever understanding a single word. Now back to the film. First thing that comes to mind when your watching this movie is STYLE, whats a decent racing movie without style to back it up. This film is just oozing with COOL from the very first frame to the very last. I can honestly say that not a single frame in the movie looked plain or boring. The look of this film is something straight out of a fancy BMW commercial.Every shot in this film seems to have been lit picture perfect, that if you were to jump in at anytime you'd think your watching a fancy watch commercial or something. This may not be good for all films but works perfectly for this one. The shots in this film some of most breath taking you'll ever see, things like a butterfly flapping its wings as the cars are about to take off, and Michel Vaillant sitting in a room filled with rotating fans as he contemplates the death of his friend. These are just a few examples, but the list goes on and on. This is one of the few commercial film directors out there who seems to understand the concept of using artistic cut aways and beautiful inserts in juxtaposition to actual story shots in order the give a film flare. The directors use of music and non story oriented shots such as the cutaways to the clear open skies, or the rippling of a cup of coffee, or a drop of rain falling onto someone's shades really help to elevate this films worth.An finally this film has some of most incredible racing sequences ever caught on film from virtually every angle you can ever imagine in virtually every atmosphere you can think of. From rain to snow, from pavement to mountainous terrains this film has it all. So for car addicts you'll be in for treat. Oh and the actors and actresses in this film are how should I say too cool almost like everyone's straight out of GQ magazine which may be bad for other films but really works for this film cause it really helps to build up that Racing mystique of beautiful cars and beautiful people. After watching this film you'll wanna put on a new Zegna suit and take a hot babe around the block in your brand new Lotus, but then again not all of us have that luxury.