The Racer

In 2020's "The Racer" Louis Talpe (excellent) is a veteran 'domestique' (ie a support rider whose job is to set star Matteo Simoni up to win) on a top professional cycling team run by Karel Roden supported by Iain Glen (great). In 1998's Tour de France the first three stages were in Ireland, where Talpe faces a crisis with his career approaching sunset (and no attractive prospects thereafter) & his health stuggling under the effectively mandatory doping he and almost all others are on. Solidly directed (by Kieron J Walsh), well performed (inc by Tara Lee, terrific in support), & written without cliché (by Walsh & Ciaran Cassidy) it's a fine and original sporting drama.

As a cyclist and movie enthusiast, I thought I had to give this a try. Someone said you will like this if you like cycling but you can't be more wrong. I don't want to write spoilers but nothing is realistic at all in this movie, from the stage actions which are ridiculous and laughable, the events happening outside of the races (people dying, the love story, everything)... It's quite frustrating since so few movies about this subject are done, I would obviously have enjoyed and hoped for something better... You would expect the scenarists of such projects to try to get to know more about the subject the film is supposed to be about but they obviously didn't here...

A film about the life of cyclists. You will find out quite a few behind the scenes of this sport, things that one of them surprised me ... in what way, I will not divulge to you. The film is very well thought out, realistic, extraordinarily played, the action does not stagnate at any moment ... worth seeing!

Not a single scene is in order with reality. 4 stars because the acting is not bad at all. Mediocre try of a fine subject! Too bad its nothing more than a bad try. Belgian main character (Mega Toby) does some fine acting though....

I watched this film expecting a moralistic tale of good over evil, honour over cheating, instead all I got was cheats win as long as they dont get caught. Oh, and they also get the girl. Not sure what the point was.

There's the makings of a decent film here. Good characters and the lead roles are well acted. Some of the supporting characters are little more than 2 dimensional stereotypes (the highly strung Italian prima donna) but that's forgivable in a low budget movie. The real problem is that the film gets so much of the cycling wrong. Having a sprinter who's favourite to win the Tour de France. Domestiques who literally ride the entire stage on the front of the peloton including doing the lead out. Teams having all their riders together at the end of the stage. These things aren't central to the plot, but the problem is that to anyone who actually follows cycling they make it clear that the filmmakers either don't know much about professional cycling or just don't care. Which is a problem in a film about cycling which is mainly going to appeal to cyclists and cycling fans!

This is not just another "sporting underdog wins the victory" movie. In this movie the good guys aren't that good, and we can really empathize with some of their immoral decisions. This is a very mature film with a plot that isn't so black-and-white. I started watching it skeptically, but couldn't stop watching until the very end. The soundtrack is nice too, and the race sequences really transmit the excitement and energy of fierce athletic competition. Give it a try, it's a great movie.