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Critics Consensus: Despite its hefty running time, Carlos moves along briskly, thanks to an engaging story, exotic locales, and a breakout performance by Edgar Ramirez.
Critic Consensus: Despite its hefty running time, Carlos moves along briskly, thanks to an engaging story, exotic locales, and a breakout performance by Edgar Ramirez.
All Critics (68) | Top Critics (21) | Fresh (63) | Rotten (5) | DVD (2)
Carlos deserves mention alongside the greatest suspense thrillers ever made.
The term "epic" often gets bandied around to describe movies that don't really fit the description. But Olivier Assayas' Carlos is the real deal...
It manages to deliver a steady stream of action thrills even as it reconsiders the international terrorism of the 1960s and '70s for lessons important today.
A terrifying portrait of an egomaniac who demands absolute obedience, and craves it even more when his power and relevance are drained away.
It is one of the best pictures of the year.
It's a subtle, ultimately staggering portrayal of a bloody-minded ideologue who convinced only himself.
Edgar Ramírez epitomizes fearlessness and sophistication all while ruling with an iron fist and shedding innocent blood for his political cause.
There is a sense that the film makers became far too engrossed in their subject matter, whilst forgetting that the point of drama -- as opposed to biography -- is to evoke emotion through a unique connection with its audience.
It's an amazing story, one told with gripping lucidity.
Olivier Assayas' epic account of the life and myth of real-life terrorist Carlos the Jackal is a mesmerizing portrait of a committed activist who transforms himself into a media-hungry rock star of an international terrorist.
Though a superbly made and meticulous portrait, Carlos is more interesting than entertaining.
Carlos is a smart piece of filmmaking that delivers thrilling sequences and doesn't pander -- grounding its idealistic character in a sea of contradictions.
Ramirez is outstanding in this biopic that explores the ambiguous nature of a revolutionary terrorist fervently devoted to a cause but who was also a self-centered man wanting to hold power over those around him - and even more fascinating is how the character needs to adapt to the many changes that occur in the world along twenty years. Excellent, but make sure you watch the full 330-minute version, not the condensed one.
Super Reviewer
I'm rating the complete miniseries. After viewing it,I have no desire to watch the condensed version. At five and a half hours, Olivier Assayas' "Carlos" doesn't steal a minute of it's audience's time. It's a stunning (reportedly fictionalized) portrait of the infamous terrorist Carlos the Jackyl, a man who's revolutionary ambitions are only matched by his lust for women and ego. Carlos is played by Edgar Ramirez (Domino, Zero Dark Thrity) who gives one of cinema's (and television's) finest recent performances. He deftly portrays a charming monster, a man who exploits the tribulations of others and foreign political strife to quench his own thirst for power. We never really like Carlos, but the film does a great job of making us understand him... rendering his journey through a world of violence, greed,and betrayal an utterly absorbing one. Assayas makes a film far removed from the warmth and grace of his 2009 "Summer Hours," but his exquisite characterization remains. He masterfully handles forcefully scenes of gritty action and violence as well as the potentially overwhelming flow of historical fact and figures. The single greatest strength of Carlos is how accessible if feels. A lot of information assaults the audience yet it all feels manageable and fluid. The scope is daunting but Assayas keeps it grounded enough to grasp. "Carlos" is a standout character study; a true modern epic that needs to be seen in any form. Undoubtedly though the miniseries is the way to go. Assayas' assured direction and the incendiary performance of Ramirez can't be ignored. It's brilliant.
Good heavens are my eyes exhausted. I have been working up the courage to face this behemoth six-hour movie for sometime and while I am thankful I actually took on the beast, my skull feels like it has just been squeezed in a vice. At its best, it is a meticulous look at career terrorism. The highs and the lows, the bombs and the blows, and every blue print in between. It is a fascinating look at the life of an extreme ideologue as he ditches every tail and cleans up the messes made by his partners. Every new hurdle slowly eats away at his overall goal of a global revolution, draining his energy and the audience's as well. Yet, while his moxie may be gradually diminishing, he never once appears to want to call it a day. Carlos is uncommonly obdurate and clings stubbornly to the belief that the world needs him. When in reality - in an observation made by a fellow Syrian terrorist - it is evident that Carlos needs these terrorist acts in order to give his life meaning. So even though many of his plans crumble, he quickly leap frogs to the next project. Knowing deep down that were he to stop, he would just be a senseless murderer. Not that he was without backing. In fact, he was courted by many regimes, but clearly his ego was writing checks that he could not feasibly cash. In meticulous and often exhaustive detail, Carlos and his gang are shown planning an attack on an OPEC conference and executing, pardon the pun, an attempted assassination plot on Anwar Sadat. Although six hours of these scenes can be laborious to sit through, its extensive length actually works in the favor of the narrative. After watching Carlos' extensive exploits for many hours, it helps the audience better understand his future actions. Primarily, it helps illuminate why Carlos begins to grow restless. The OPEC conference aside, Carlos must deal with botched job after botched job. He becomes more desperate with every passing year and his inability to start a global revolution breeds discontentment. Subsequently, his actions becomes more brazen. His idealism begins to give way to egoism and becomes a hazy concoction of ideology driven hubris. Edgar Ramirez is superb as the amoral man of conviction. There is a quiet intensity to him that makes it very difficult to take your eyes off of. It could have been so easy to play Carlos as an over the top megalomaniacal criminal mastermind, but he abstains from doing so. Thankfully Ramirez forgoes the headlines and gives us the fine print. I hope this role opens up more doors for this talented actor. Carlos is quite a journey and not one that I will probably take again this decade. However, it is a unique and well-acted film about what it truly means to live and die for a cause. No matter how futile it can seem at times.
A "revolutionary" without a huge ego is not a real revolutionary.
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