Carlos the jackal

In Hong Kong, Olivier Assayas is best-known as the ex-husband (1998-2001) of Maggie Cheung, who starred in Irma Vep, his biggest success, and remained amicable enough to make Clean with him in 2004. More recently, the Frenchman (son of director Jacques Remy) is better-known in Europe for directing and co-writing a three-part 330-minute TV mini-series, Carlos. Abridged versions (140/160 minutes) also appeared in 2010 in theatres and on DVD, where its anti-heroic title character was more clearly identified as Carlos the Jackal.

After watching the shorter version's first hour, I paused ... the movie's pace, action scenes, cinematography in various countries, multi-lingual script, edge-of-the-seat edginess, and lead actor (Edgar Ramirez) were so good that I wanted to watch the full version and not miss three hours' worth of detail in the extraordinary life of a revolutionary Venezuelan killer who captured OPEC.

The story of "Carlos", originally given Lenin's first name (Ilich) by his father, provides an historical review of the 1970s and 80s by Assayas and lead screenplay writer Dan Franck. Initially a devoted supporter of the Palestinian cause, the violent terrorist became a media notoriety, a star attraction on a global stage. He was also a bon-vivant serial lover, and Assayas boldly includes full frontal nudity to illustrate Carlos's vanity (and European broadmindedness).

Assayas again chose an ideal lead actor: Ramirez is also Venezuelan, he fattens up just as Carlos did in real life, and he dominates the movie with entrancing images of a fiercely driven professional, charming and chilling, calculating and callous, arousing surprising empathy for a mercenary radical.

The abbreviated movie was a cinematic page-turner, and there's a great chance that 330 minutes of my life will be rushed through very happily by a top-grade TV mini-series that is also very good cinema.