Arès - the last of its kind
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Arès - the last of its kind |
| Original title | Arès |
| Country of production | France |
| original language | French |
| Publishing year | 2016 |
| length | 80 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Jean-Patrick Benes |
| script | Jean-Patrick Benes Allan Mauduit Benjamin Dupas |
| production |
Sidonie Dumas , Matthieu Tarot |
| music | Alex Cortés |
| camera | Jérôme Alméras |
| cut | Vincent Taballion |
| occupation | |
| |
Arès - The last of its kind (Original title: Arès ) is a French film released in 2016 by Jean-Patrick Benes .
action
France , March 2035: Large corporations have taken over the national debt of the bankrupt state and are therefore able to determine the country's politics . The use and trafficking of one's own body for human experimentation and stimulants were legalized. Due to fears of rioting due to the high unemployment rate of 15 million and homelessness , the possession of firearms was banned under severe threats of punishment. One source of income is a new type of martial arts in which the fighters are sponsored by pharmaceutical manufacturers , who in turn use the fights to test their stimulants and market them to the media.
Reda, who goes by the fighting name Arès, is one of those fighters. Initially successful, he suffered a stroke ten years ago as a result of being given a new substance and from then on has to survive with poorly paid fights and missions as an auxiliary policeman. His girlfriend is the police officer Altman, who recruits fighters like Reda to fend off the uprisings on the streets and has them deployed on an hourly basis as police officers . During one of these missions Reda gets as his niece Anouk is arrested and can release her from the people detained cause. Anouk, like her mother Carla, Reda's sister , is active in an underground movement, which Reda does not approve of.
The general management of the pharmaceutical company Donevia wants to convince the supervisory board of their company by the media-effective presentation of new means HSX, which promises a phenomenal increase in performance. As a candidate, they choose Reda, who is far down in the ranking and whose victory against a top fighter would be particularly sensational. When his trainer Reda presented the new substance, which only a few people could tolerate, on behalf of company representative Anna, Reda refused the test despite the promised high prize money. He would like to get out of the scene soon and take over a kiosk with his savings .
After Carla is arrested for possessing a semi-automatic firearm, Reda fails with the police in an attempt to take the blame on herself. Reda takes his sister's children, Anouk and her younger sister, with her, otherwise they would be sent to a home . He strictly refuses to work with the underground movement to get his sister released. During a visit to the prison, his sister tells him that the gun was slipped on her. Reda believes that the only way to free her from prison is to bribe her. His friend Altman explains to him that Carla is considered a terrorist for her work underground and is facing a ten-year prison sentence ; but against a bribe of 100,000 euros it is possible to have the evidence disappear. Reda decides to go into the test with the substance HSX. The substance is said to give him an enormous performance for five minutes, but it is not certain whether his heart can tolerate the strain. He lets his neighbor, the Corss dresser Myosotis, who streams his private life live on a porn website for gay men , bet on himself with the savings for the kiosk.
Driven up by the drug, Reda can win his fight against the selected top fighter against the expectations of the bookmakers and his coach. He suffers a seizure but survives. Donevia's board of directors is satisfied and votes to continue the program. With a very large sum of money that enables social advancement, Reda is convinced to fight further battles. When he and Altman want to pick up his sister in prison, he learns that she died while trying to protect another inmate. Altman tries to return the bribe to him, but Reda asks her to keep it and find out who betrayed his sister. Boris, who has been in his same underground movement and in Red as smart TV hacks , he learns that the phone call that led to the arrest of his sister, from a phone booth took place outside the office of his coach.
Reda leaves his sister's children in the care of his neighbor to fight another fight, which he loses after a few seconds with a knockout . Donevia's share prices then drop rapidly and the company decides to force Reda to investigate. Reda is picked up by Myosotis, who had bet on his behalf before the fight against Reda. Reda asks his neighbor to collect the winnings because he wants to break away with the girls. In the event that something should happen to him, he gives Myosotis the number of his friend Altman. Reda seeks out his coach, who had everything on him and is now financially ruined. Reda injects him with the drug that he did not take from the fight, and the coach who cannot take it dies. Reda is spotted by the company representative Anna von Donevia, who makes it clear to him that Donevia has brought his sister's children into his power. In order to force Reda to cooperate, Altman, who actually works for the Donevia group, temporarily gained access to Myosotis' apartment and took the two girls hostage .
Meanwhile, Myosotis calls home to announce his arrival to the girls. Altman forces Anouk to take the phone call that tells Myosotis that Reda will take them all out to dinner to say thank you. Since Reda had never thanked Myosotis, this raises suspicion. On the live stream of his apartment, he sees that a person has the two girls in their power. When Reda doesn't answer his phone call, he calls Altman, whose phone number Reda gave him in case of emergency. On the stream he sees that it is Altman who has Reda's niece in her power.
Reda is brought before the assembled Donevia board of directors. He admits that he did not take the drug before the fight and is supposed to demonstrate the effects of the drug HSX in front of those present by comparing it with the genetic clone of the best martial artist. To do this, Anna injects him with the drug. In the meantime, Myosotis and Boris, alarmed by him, manage to overpower and kill Altman. Boris hacks into Donevia's system and lets Reda know that his nieces are fine. Reda overpowers the CEO and throws him out the window. The board of directors flees and Reda is attacked by two clones. However, Anna gives the instruction that she needs Reda alive in any case to continue the research. Equipped with enormous powers through the means HSX, Reda can kill the clones. However, he decides not to kill Anna, but to forward the data about the experiments to the Boris underground movement. Then Reda calls his niece Anouk and explains to her that he is too valuable to Donevia that they would never let him go. He lets Myosotis express his thanks and commits suicide .
Supported by the data that Reda has transmitted to the underground movement, a revolution against the existing conditions is forming.
production
The production costs amounted to four million euros. The French director Louis Leterrier was responsible for the revision of the script and the staging of the fights. Under his direction, recordings of the protests in Ukraine were made in November 2013 and used in the film. After the first version of the film was unsuccessful, the release was postponed for a year and the film was revised under the direction of Louis Leterrier.
The film premiered at Comic Con Paris on October 21, 2016.
synchronization
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Altman | Hélène Fillières | Dana Friedrich |
| EuroOne spokesman | François Berland | Matthias Klages |
| Commentator # 2 | Florent Oullié | |
| Tyro | Yvon Martin | |
| Interrogator | Alexis Michalik | |
| Maé | Elina Solomon | Merle Rebstock |
reception
The reviews were positive:
“Interesting combination: 'Ares' mixes martial arts action with a dystopian SF thriller story. That does not seem unproblematic: Those who look forward to crisp ultimate fighting disputes may get their money's worth from time to time, but in the meantime have to deal with the science fiction story. Science fiction fans with no interest in martial arts, on the other hand, may be bothered by the brutal confrontations. [...]
One of the tasks of science fiction is to make statements about the here and now with a look at the times ahead. Jean-Patrick Benes ('Vilaine') manages that very well with his first feature film as the sole director. Some citizens consider criticism of corporate power to be exaggerated. All those who do not get a glimpse into a possible future that may not be too far removed from our reality. Does humanity need, does our system need a revolution? "
“In any case, it is the different, weird and unique characters that make Ares - the last of its kind. And although the pace is consistently slow, the story works. During the 80-minute runtime, boredom is only for those who expect a non-stop fighting film. That's not Ares - and he doesn't even want to be. Rather, it works because of its consistent line, the gloomy images and the melancholy-bitter mood - well done, Jean-Patrick Benes. "
Individual evidence
- ↑ Release certificate for Ares . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF).
- ↑ Christophe Carriére: Arès, "un film produit avec des idées plutôt qu'avec des moyens". In: L'Express . November 23, 2016, accessed June 2, 2020 .
- ↑ Elsa Keslassy: Gaumont's Dystopian Thriller 'Ares' Bows at Paris Comic Con, Pre-Sells Globally (EXCLUSIVE). In: Variety . October 21, 2016, accessed May 31, 2020 .
- ^ Arès - The last of its kind. In: synchronkartei.de. German dubbing index , accessed on June 5, 2020 .
- ↑ Volker Schönenberger: Ares - When the corporations have the say. In: The Night of Living Texts. December 31, 2017, accessed June 5, 2020 .
- ↑ Timo Wolters: No freedom. No equality. No brotherhood. In: Blu-ray-Rezensions.net. May 26, 2018, accessed June 5, 2020 .