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RENEGADE
This 2004 adaptation of the popular western comic BLUEBERRY mixes action movie thrills with psychedelic weirdness. It’s certainly the only oater I’ve ever seen involving a quest for “gold” in the form of a hallucinogenic drug, and which ends with its hero and villain facing off in a psychic duel to the death!
The Package
France’s Jan Kounen first made a splash with his ultra-violent, wildly
energetic 1997 action fest DOBERMANN. Although it was never released in the
U.S., DOBERMANN was enormously popular in Europe. Kounen’s follow-up was this
expensive adaptation of the Euro-western comic BLUEBERRY by Jean “Moebius”
Giraud, with a heavyweight (by European standards) cast that included Vincent
Cassel, Michael Madsen, Juliette Lewis, Djimon Hounsou, Ernest Borgnine and
Eddie Izzard. BLUEBERRY was initially intended as an action-heavy
companion-piece to DOBERMANN, but during preproduction Kounen reportedly dropped
some peyote and was so impacted by the experience he decided to take the
material in a different direction.
BLUEBERRY was released straight to DVD in the U.S. under the title
RENEGADE, and with conventional western movie packaging. I can only imagine how
those who viewed this deeply whacked-out film based on that packaging might have
reacted!
The Story
As a child Mike Blueberry is dropped off in an isolated Western town by his
fed-up father. There the teenaged Blueberry falls in love, but his girlfriend
is killed by an evil man named Wally Blount. Blueberry flees into Indian
territory, ending up in a cave where he’s given peyote; this causes him to trip
heavily, and ultimately gain an entirely new perspective on life.
As an adult Blueberry becomes a U.S. Marshall, and as
such attempts to broker peace between the whites and Indians. His attempts are
thrown into conflict, though, when Blount turns up looking for “gold.” In fact
he’s searching for the substance that turned on Blueberry, and will stop at
nothing to get it. Blount and his goons head for the same cave where Blueberry
got his druggie induction, and there Blount drops peyote. When Blueberry
arrives he finds he’ll have to join Blount’s hallucination in order to take him
on. This leads to an otherworldly mind-war that takes these two back to their
initial confrontation.
The Direction
In many respects this is very much the type of kinetic action movie you’d
expect from the director of DOBERMANN: it’s fast, bloody, packed with engagingly
demented touches (such as a man’s hat concealing the fact that he was scalped)
and filled with innovative camerawork. It’s also (a la DOBERMANN) rather
messy from a storytelling standpoint. It doesn’t help that, in the manner of
many European co-productions, the top-heavy cast speaks in clashing accents, and
in some cases entirely different languages.
What makes the film intriguing is the psychedelic angle. Note the frequent
dissolves, definitely out of place in an action movie. So is the 2001-esque
psychedelic lightshow that climaxes the film in place of the expected
shoot-out. Some commentators claim it was made to be viewed while tripping, and
it’s been said the hallucination sequences, involving swarming insect-like
forms, are the most accurate representations of a peyote trip ever put on film.
Those wanting a traditional oater should steer clear, but for viewers interested
in drug-induced weirdness RENEGADE is a must-see.
Vital Statistics
RENEGADE (a.k.a. BLUEBERRY)
A.J.O.Z. Films/La Petite Reine/UGC
Images/TF1 Films Production/120 Films/Crystalcreek Ltd./Ultra Films
Director: Jan Kounen
Producers: Timothy Burrill, Jean-Michel Lacor
Screenplay: Gerard Brach, Matt Alexander, Jan Kounen
(Based on the comic BLUEBERRY by Jean “Moebius” Giraud)
Cinematography: Tetsuo Nagata
Editing: Benedicte Brunet, Joel Jacovella, Jennifer Auge
Cast: Vincent Cassel, Juliette Lewis, Michael Madsen, Temura Morrison, Ernest
Borgnine, Djimon Hounsou, Hugh O’Connor, Kestenbetsa, Vahina Giocante, Nichole
Hultz, Kateri Walker, Eddie Izzard, Colm Meany, Tcheky Karyo, Jan Kounen