Featured Post

Letterboxd Reviews

So as you know, I stopped writing lengthy reviews on this site this year, keeping the blog as more of a film diary of sorts.  Lo and behold,...

Friday, January 13, 2012

Movie Review - Point Blank

Point Blank [A bout portant] (2011)
Starring Gilles Lellouche, Roschdy Zem, Gérard Lanvin, and Elena Anaya
Directed by Fred Cavayé
***This film is currently streaming on Netflix***

A perfectly acceptable French thriller, Point Blank doesn't overextend its welcome.  Instead, it gets in, tells its story, and wraps things up (credits and all) in 84 minutes.  If only US audiences didn't feel cheated by such short running times...

Granted, the tale that director and co-writer Fred Cavayé borders on ridiculous, but we typically don't go to action flicks (even foreign ones) expecting a coherent plot all the time.  Here, Samuel, a male nurse (Gilles Lellouche), gets tangled up in a web of mystery after he saves one of his patients, Hugo (Roschdy Zem), from dying.  A mere twelve hours after coming to Hugo's rescue, Samuel's pregnant wife (Elana Anaya) is kidnapped.  Samuel is told that unless he manages to find a way to get Hugo out of the hospital within three hours, the kidnappers will kill his wife.

While Samuel doesn't quite go all Liam Neeson-in-Taken, there certainly were hints of that film on the outskirts of Point Blank's plot.  Taken did things a bit better, but the angry husband revenge plot is one that can more than hold its own in even some of the most silly settings.  In fact, had this simply been a vengeful hubby flick, Point Blank may have been a bit more enjoyable, but the writers throw in some more complex than necessary plot points involving corrupt governments and police units without elaborating on them.  And therein lies the film's problem...I more than appreciated its quick pace and nonstop feel, but in the end, I actually felt like I was slighted in the explanation department when it came to the film's big conspiracy it tries to depict.

Still, if you're interested in a quick diversion into "Foreign Film Land," you could do worse than Point Blank which turns out to be anything but boring.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

No comments:

Post a Comment