Intacto | | Cast : | Leonardo Sbaraglia, Eusebio Poncela, Max von Sydow | | Director : | Juan Carlos Fresnadillo | | Studio : | Lions Gate Home Entertainment | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Dolby | | Released Date : | January 01, 2001 | | DVD Released Date : | June 24, 2003 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), Spanish (Dubbed), Spanish (Original Language), English (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 05, 2005 | | Summary | Confusing mess, but somewhat original | Content
 | "Intacto" concerns a hidden subculture of people who can steal luck from others, and barter or win it from each other. An intriguing concept, to be sure, and it makes for a good premise for a film.
A movie needs more than a high concept, though. A fantasy like this demands a lot in its execution. In particular, the script must establish an internal logic very early on, and follow that internal logic, in order to allow the audience to suspend their disbelief and enter into the fantasy. "Intacto" unfortunately throws internal logic and common sense right out the window. The characters' actions make no sense much of the time, and the script and direction obfuscate and confuse rather than advance any kind of plot. Contrast this with the superior movie "The Cooler," which also dealt with a man who could affect the luck of others. Whatever its faults, and it had some, at least the basic premise of the cooler's relationship with luck & how it worked was set out early in the movie, and was comprehensible.
I'll give it an extra star for trying something different, and for generally good performances. But, I wouldn't watch this again. If you're at the video store at 11 pm on Friday and your only choices are this, "Shattered Glass" and some WWF videos, just go home and read a book. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 25, 2005 | | Summary | don't waste your time with this turkey | Content
| ok, I believe only in probability, not luck. I think people who play the lottery are a little foolish. but I have more reasons for disliking this movie--weird blend of cop movie and supernatural. Characters not involving. Completely silly mumbo-jumbo. Makes The Exorcist look like a great movie. Just a bunch of people doing completely non-sensical, irrational things. (Such as running into traffic or trees to test their luck. (!!!) My mother told me to look out for cars, and that was good advice! With expensive production values--good camera work, good music. That it was dubbed into English didn't help, either. Something about the complete lack of psychological realism, and complete earnestness in the face of so much improbable stupidity just makes me wonder who could take this stuff seriously. Yet it placed well at the Sundance Film Festival, Cannes, Toronto, even got a good blurb from the New York Times and Boston Globe! Go figure! Now I'm SURE Ty Burr is an idiot. He called this movie "mesmerizing"! Maybe the nice camera work and expensive look of the movie fooled these people. I don't know. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 22, 2005 | | Summary | conflicting and confusing array of ideas | Content
| Intacto has an interesting premise:is there truly luck or simply fate. A more rational explanation might be cold randomness. The characters play incredulous games with the hope of winning luck. Winning someone's luck give you more luck. And I suppose that the loser is "out of luck." The ultimate test is for the person who thinks that he is lucky to challenge the Godfather of Luck. If someone beats the Godfather, then he becomes the new Godfather (a point that is never quite explained).
Throughout this story of good and bad luck, the director mixes love. The good fortune of the luckiest person on earth turns out to be not luck at all, but based on another's selflessness and love. You might think that anyone who owes his life to love given by another would lead his own life in a similar manner, but not in Intacto: Mr. Lucky shows little care for others. He's selfish.
The film also attempts to touch on the concept of "truth," but fails because of conflicting actions. One one hand we have an aircraft accident survivor who's girlfriend did not make the same trip because he tells her "I don't love you anyone." This is confounding because the survivor "saves" the life of his lover by lying to her: he actually does love her. On the other hand, a policewomen does not love her husband, and not telling him so leads to his demise.
I like the story, the action, and the twists and turns. The film's downfall is a conflicting and confusing array of ideas that are touched upon, but never fully realized. Character development is also sketchy. I had little empathy for the strangers in Intacto, and therefore little emotional investment in the outcome. The film is, for lack of a better word, cold. |
| Rating | | | Date | March 13, 2005 | | Summary | Out of luck ??? | Content
| The premise of this film is that some people can steal luck from others. The idea is bizarre but interesting, and the director (Juan Carlos Fresnadillo) and some great actors managed to make a great movie out of it.
The main character, Thomas (Leonardo Sbaraglia), the only survivor of a tragic crash that killed the other 236 passagers in the plane, is one of the "fortunate" people that can steal luck. He is not so fortunate, though, because he is arrested by the police while he is in a hospital recovering from the crash, due to the fact that he is a thief. Despite that, not all is lost for him.
A strange man called Federico (Eusebio Poncela) helps him to escape, on the condition that Thomas will bet for him in a secret and very exclusive ring of betting, and that they will split the earnings. As a consequence, Thomas is introduced to to a secret society of "fortunate" people addicted to betting all kind of things in different games. The stakes are high: money, houses, people... The questionn is: how far is Thomas ready to go?.
On the whole, I can say that I highly enjoyed this movie, and that I recommend it to you. I have never seen a plot similar to this one. Whether that means that I don't watch enough movies, or that is an extremely original film, I don't know. All the same, watch it: you have nothing to lose, and a lot to gain :)
Belen Alcat |
| Rating | | | Date | February 12, 2005 | | Summary | Here a luck, there a luck. | Content
| The premise is very original and interesting--being able to "steal" someone else's luck--and although it held up decently and was fascinating at the beginning, midway through, instead of revealing answers, I felt that it started to throw a few unnecessary confusing things at you to make it have substance (ex: the "I don't love you").
There are many things at the end of this film which was not answered, especially the technical aspects of stealing luck and bartering luck. This is only a problem if you get hung up on these types of things because it is never fully explained.
The characters themselves were not developed very well and like someone said..were rather hollow. A lot of the actions of the policewoman were just plain unbelievable and because of that, she was sort of annoying. Her character almost seems like it was forced into the movie in order to complete the ending. Other than that, this movie is relatively entertaining as a thriller/action type movie. Very stylish too. |
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