Viktor (2014 film)

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 0% based on 7 reviews, with an average rating of 1.60/10.^[16] The film received a limited release in the United States where it was a commercial flop, with many US sources describing Depardieu's girth as making him unbelievable as an action hero. It was not released in France, where news of its dismal American box office performance were met by derision by the media.^[17][18][19]

The Detroit News wrote, "In his younger days, Depardieu had a burly charm, but the dude is 65 now and has to weigh 300 pounds. He looks ludicrous in action sequences".^[1] The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "Depardieu, age 65 and looking like he can barely move due to his massive girth..."^[5] continuing "the film is relentlessly tedious when it's not being laughable", sharing that the "latter aspect is exemplified by the supposed romantic relationship between the morbidly obese Depardieu and the gorgeous Hurley, whose adoring gazes toward her co-star demonstrate that her acting abilities have perhaps been underestimated".^[5] San Francisco Weekly wrote, "The 66-year-old Depardieu was no action hero even in his prime, and as his girth now rivals Paul Masson-era Orson Welles, we're meant to believe he strikes fear into his enemies".^[6] Film Journal International writes of the film's weak points, stating, "...sadly, the problem is Depardieu, who lumbers through the film looking as though he's tormented by indigestion rather than a lust for vengeance",^[7] and toward the film, "Viktor is surprisingly dull".^[7] They did, however, speak well toward the film's cinematography, expressing pleasure at the director's "delivering the genre staples – car chases, gun battles, a little torture (a reluctant informer), female flesh and endless dark alleys and mean streets – and Moscow is wall-to-wall with photo ops, from the winding Neva River to the Cathedral of St. Basil, which has made so many movie appearances it should be getting above-the-title billing".^[7] The Los Angeles Times wrote that seeing "the film's corpulent, 65-year-old star, Gérard Depardieu, play a brash killing machine who beds the likes of the gorgeous Elizabeth Hurley is truly like entering some cinematic Bizarro world. Think Charles Durning as Dirty Harry".^[8] The reviewer wrote the film was a "hackneyed jumble ... a fiery car chase, a couple of shootouts and an eyes-averting torture scene fill this competently shot movie's action quota. But a tone-switching epilogue proves hokey — and a little spooky".^[8] CBS News noted that while film was "beautifully shot" and director of photography Jean-Francois Hensgens brought out "the stunning Russian landscape", the film's beauty was "brought down by the clunky dialogue and the slow, plodding plot".^[9]

• Official website
• Viktor at IMDb
• Viktor Archived 30 December 2016 at the Wayback Machine on the director's website (French)
• Viktor at Rotten Tomatoes
• Viktor at Metacritic
• Viktor at KinoPoisk (Russian)