If you love road cycling , you will love this movie .
15 Reviews
As if you were watching the Tour de France with extras in the cinema.
movieman6-413-92951022 October 2020
The Racer is a new sports drama directed, written and produced in part by Kieron J. Walsh, the director of Jump.
The film is set in the summer of 1998 during the Tour de France, which takes place in Ireland that year. The Belgian cyclist Dominique Chabol (Louis Talpe) is at the end of his sports career, but secretly hopes to be able to wear the yellow jersey. When Dominique offers less good speed records, he is kicked out of his team. Thus he loses hope of making his dream come true and prepares to leave his sports career behind. When another member of his old team is disqualified due to a doping error, Dominique gets his last chance to make his dream come true.
This film comes across as if you are looking at real images of the Tour de France with additional images of how the cyclists prepare for their races. The film is so entertaining and informative for cycling fans. You get a good view of what heavy things cyclists do to have a chance of winning a cycling race. In this way you also see how false it is when other cyclists use doping to win their races in an unfair way.
A downside of this film is that you mainly follow the main character when he is kicked out of his cycling team, looking for a new way of life. He tries to improve his family life and to start a relationship with the doctor who cared for him. When he is allowed to return to his team towards the end of the film, he seems to be occupied with his own sports career and dreams again. The time you, as a viewer, spend after his sports career together with the main character, then appears somewhat aimless.
The acting is well done by the cast. Louis Talpe comes across well as a cyclist who chooses his career. It's just a shame that his character comes across a bit too selfish when he is allowed to return to his team. The rest of the cast gets a chance to shine as they help the main character with his life after his career. If he does choose his career again in the end, the time you spent with the rest of the cast also seems a bit unnecessary.
The film is set in the summer of 1998 during the Tour de France, which takes place in Ireland that year. The Belgian cyclist Dominique Chabol (Louis Talpe) is at the end of his sports career, but secretly hopes to be able to wear the yellow jersey. When Dominique offers less good speed records, he is kicked out of his team. Thus he loses hope of making his dream come true and prepares to leave his sports career behind. When another member of his old team is disqualified due to a doping error, Dominique gets his last chance to make his dream come true.
This film comes across as if you are looking at real images of the Tour de France with additional images of how the cyclists prepare for their races. The film is so entertaining and informative for cycling fans. You get a good view of what heavy things cyclists do to have a chance of winning a cycling race. In this way you also see how false it is when other cyclists use doping to win their races in an unfair way.
A downside of this film is that you mainly follow the main character when he is kicked out of his cycling team, looking for a new way of life. He tries to improve his family life and to start a relationship with the doctor who cared for him. When he is allowed to return to his team towards the end of the film, he seems to be occupied with his own sports career and dreams again. The time you, as a viewer, spend after his sports career together with the main character, then appears somewhat aimless.
The acting is well done by the cast. Louis Talpe comes across well as a cyclist who chooses his career. It's just a shame that his character comes across a bit too selfish when he is allowed to return to his team. The rest of the cast gets a chance to shine as they help the main character with his life after his career. If he does choose his career again in the end, the time you spent with the rest of the cast also seems a bit unnecessary.
Not Bad
cescfabulous8 April 2021
Tour de France racing
SnoopyStyle25 March 2023
It's 1998. Dominique "Dom" Chabol (Louis Talpe) is a veteran riding his last Tour de France. His only job is supporting the younger riders. He's not supposed to win anything, but dreams of a stage win. Sonny McElhone (Iain Glen) is the team masseur and chief doper. Dom gets replaced before leaving for the tour. As he starts to accept his fate, he gets a second chance.
This is ripped from the headlines. Dom is such a quiet character. He almost has no colors except when he starts connecting with the girl. It's all about his racing. The last visual should be him with the girl. Instead of the trophy girls, he should walk off the podium to kiss Lynn like Rocky style. I like all the details, but this is a bit quiet.
This is ripped from the headlines. Dom is such a quiet character. He almost has no colors except when he starts connecting with the girl. It's all about his racing. The last visual should be him with the girl. Instead of the trophy girls, he should walk off the podium to kiss Lynn like Rocky style. I like all the details, but this is a bit quiet.
Interesting idea not very well executed
cartsman-2017729 July 2021
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!
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!
Very bad impression of professional cycling!
lbrouwers-7133927 November 2021
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....
Good movie
nickpedersen20 September 2020
Its properbly not a 100% true insight of a Tour De France racing team, but it gives an insight of the dramas and the doping in a team.
This takes place in Ireland 1998 where the Tour begins.
And we follow a man in a team during the first three races in Ireland, before the Tour continues in France.
Its a fairly good movie with lots of drama, and there is also room for a little love story :-)
See it as a movie, and not as a documentary.
Just appallingly woeful
portrushme1 April 2021
Thought I would give this a watch but it is truly awful. If you think this is what the Tour de France looks like and how a professional cyclist would conduct himself, then you will be having the wool pulled over your eyes.
The action scenes are truly laughable and I am sure of more than one occasion, the director of the film had the Irish flag the wrong way round. What cyclist goes to the pub on the evening of the race start lol
Even though stand the cheat that is Lance Armstrong,The Program is a far superior cycling film.
The action scenes are truly laughable and I am sure of more than one occasion, the director of the film had the Irish flag the wrong way round. What cyclist goes to the pub on the evening of the race start lol
Even though stand the cheat that is Lance Armstrong,The Program is a far superior cycling film.
Just plain unrealistic, which explains the bad rating
roman_briquet1 September 2021
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...
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 fine & original sporting drama
danieljfarthing5 March 2023
Warning: Spoilers
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.
When a certain sport is your only reason in life, no sacrifice seems great!
yasin-9989621 June 2021
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!
The film is very well thought out, realistic, extraordinarily played, the action does not stagnate at any moment ... worth seeing!
Definitely Worth Watching
thomas-ero25 July 2021
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.
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.
Tonally well crafted and involving, with nods to Kraftwerk.
dereksokisayisay25 March 2024
Apparently it's not easy to produce a watchable sport based drama - as so many attempts have proved. Avoiding uber-cliché, over dramatization and sickly back-slapping hero worship seems to be a challenge (certainly for Hollywood), but not here in this EU-based production. The film offers superb characterisation from Belgian actor Louis Talpe, who despite his ever so slightly over-developed biceps, is a perfectly believable lead, supporting the talented Irish actor Tara Lee as a UCI doctor arranged for the opening Ireland stages of the 1998 Tour. In fact quite bewilderingly the film is set exclusively in Ireland, yet it's an historically accurate and inspired setting. It thus contains a good portion of Irish grit and humour mixed in with many European sensibilities which only occasionally stray into parody - with the likes of a prima-donna Italian team leader, but then this characterisation could be argued to be one hundred percent perfectly realistic. It's all well acted with a well developed and involving side narrative and an unusual Irish/British-European feel to it. This film shows PED abuse but in the un-stylised matter of fact way that riders at the time treated it. We should all know what went on anyway so to present it as shocking to the contemporary audience would be a waste of effort. It does partly explain the environment of abuse at the time and how it developed to corrupt young riders, but doesn't go too deep into how with full institutional complicity those times became so dark. 1998 was ofc the year Pantani won the TdF keying up Armstrong for the following seven which he won on water alone. The film flows well, has an exciting Kraftwerk-inspired soundtrack (despite them not sound tracking the Tour till 2003) and race scenes are absolutely good enough. It's not easy replicating the professional Peloton, even that from 1998, we all know how professional riders move and this film obviously will not replicate that, but it is a movie without a budget for an encore of 80 elite riders. Yes the training rides seem a bit Zone 1 and the breakaway moves could be done by your gran on a Penny Farthing on a good day, but overall there's not much here at all that needs to be forgiven, it's a memorable production because of the narrative and the emotions of real life. Having said this I was expecting total nonsense so if you don't expect too much, then you shouldn't be rolling your eyes too much.
Portrait of a natural born loser
searchanddestroy-11 May 2023
If you are interested in the Tour De France and its whereabouts, about the hidden things around it, or interested in cycling races in general, this film is definitely for you. I loved THE PROGRAM, back in 2015, about Lance Armstrong; and also loved CONTRE LA MONTRE, a TV movie starring Olivier Gourmet, denouncing drug use for cycling races. This story takes place during the first phase of the 1998 Tour de France in Ireland. This movie, I repeat, is very exciting and interesting too, a good character study concerning supporting racers, and not always the big stars. In short, it shows this sport from another angle. So many details are shown, as for a documentary.
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