Point Blank (2011)

This small French thriller has somehow not been recognized for what it is: A superb romantic thriller with a ticking "clock" that will keep you on the edge of your couch or chair since it's long gone from whatever theatrical release it got in USA. It's as good as 95% of the studio "thrillers" released the past 10-20 years with big names attached. One becomes jaded with the excessive CGI and loud sound tracks and remakes we get fed every year. So when something original, not over the top but steeped in story and simplicity arrives...Well then count our lucky stars. It's a rare treat. Go find this gem (Neflix is streaming it) and see what film making is all about: writing, casting, production values and DIRECTING!

I think you should know up front that I am NOT the intended audience for "Point Blank" and my score of 6 might just reflect that. I am not a big fan of violent films nor, especially, do I enjoy films which are non-stop action movies. I am not saying they're bad...but I don't enjoy them. I can respect "Point Blank" but didn't exactly love it...which isn't a huge surprise. I mostly watched it because I enjoy French films.The film begins with a violent chase scene. A man has been shot and then, unexpectedly, get hit by a car. It's almost impossible to imagine a guy surviving this...let along running about like an action hero for most of the film...and that's why I knocked a few points off the movie right off the bat. This just didn't make sense and he was NOT a Terminator!!Anyway, back to the film. While the guy is in intensive care, someone tries to kill him--slicing his respirator hose. Fortunately for him, a nurse's aid discovers this and saves him. As payment for his good deed, some folks knock him senseless and then kidnap his very pregnant wife. Then he gets a message that he must sneak this injured guy out of the hospital...which he does. What follows is a long series of chase scenes, fights, shootings and pretty much everything else they could cram into the film. Again, much of it is done by a guy who only minutes before was in ICU...clinging to life.Perhaps you'll enjoy it. The action is gripping and the film is non-stop. I just thought it sometimes just didn't make a lot of sense.

The opening scene of this French thriller sees an injured man being chased by two men with guns; just as it looks as though they have caught him he is struck by a motorcycle. He is taken to hospital where his pursuers make another attempt on his life; this time he is saved by trainee nurse Samuel Pierret. This turns out to be a dangerous move for Samual as soon after his pregnant wife, Nadia, is kidnapped by the injured man's brother… it turns out he saved is wanted criminal Hugo Sartet. Samual manages to get Hugo out of the hospital but the police are closing in on them rapidly. The planned exchange Hugo for Nadia doesn't go as planned then before they can arrange another meeting Hugo's brother is killed and Nadia is held by another far more dangerous group; a squad of corrupt cops who will do anything to ensure that their involvement in the murder of a wealthy business man stays hidden… including killing honest cops and eliminating anybody who knows what they did.At around eighty minutes in length this is hardly a long film and it seems even shorter as the action barely lets up for a moment. Apart from a couple of establishing scenes featuring Sam and Nadia it is all action as Sam and Hugo flee their pursuers and ultimately turn the tables on them. The action feels very real and painful; it is also quite shocking at times. This is helped by the fact that protagonist Sam, excellently played by Gilles Lellouche isn't a tough guy action man; he is just an ordinary man driven by extraordinary circumstances. The rest of the cast also perform well making the characters believable. Overall a nice taut thriller that shows you don't need car chases and exploding helicopters to make an exciting film… I'd certainly recommend it.These comments are based on watching the film in French with English subtitles.

This was probably the best action film of 2010, which is somewhat surprising considering it's a mid-budget French movie with a lean script and actors unknown to English-speaking audiences. Despite the possible handicaps, this pared-down thriller turns out to have the vitality and excitement of one of the Greengrass Bourne flicks, and it's very nearly as good.The storyline is simple but intricate: the archetypal everyday family man is drawn into a complicated conspiracy of murder and betrayal when he saves the life of one of his patients following a murder attempt. His wife is thus kidnapped, and he spends the rest of the movie in a desperate race against time to save her. It sounds like TAKEN but it takes a much more realistic, thriller-style approach rather than going for the all out action style; for the record I like both films equally well.Gilles Lellouche is expertly sweaty as the ultra-anxious guy driven to desperate extremes by the situation, but the film really belongs to Roschdy Zem as the Algerian criminal who starts out as an innocent, becomes a bad guy, and finally turns into something much, much more and better besides. His character avoids cliché throughout and he gives a reserved, oddly touching performance despite his character's rough, violent ways.This is a short film (80 minutes odd) and it's action packed, with the action mostly taking the form of pulse-pounding chase sequences that support and enhance the thriller aspects of the story. It starts off well, drawing you into the lives of the characters before letting rip with the suspense, and from that point in it never lets up until the ferocious climax. It truly is a great movie, and a second watch close on the heels of the first merely confirms my first impressions.