Point Blank (2010)

The French are rather talented in making fast action movies, the most known - directly or via remakes - are connected with the name of Luc Besson. But apart from him, there are dozens of good filmmakers whose production remains within the French-speaking countries or a bit wider - in the event of topical French film days or similar. Anyway, À bout portant is an interesting and well taken action by Fred Cavayé, with a strong and versatile cast, leading by Gilles Lellouche, Roschdy Zem and Gérard Lanvin.

There are some clichés and repeating scenes, but they do not become annoying as the past is fast and multidimensional - and the total length of the film is 1 hour 15 minutes only. The ending has also several layers; thus, the film is surely for them who like rapid twists, chases on foot, double-dealing characters etc.

Fmovies: This was a punchy, French, action based film that was quite good, but with more developed characters, could have been brilliant.

Point Blank is well paced, dramatic, entertaining and I suppose most importantly believable. A criminal escapes murder, whilst in hospital, and forces his nurse to team up with him, as he avoids the police and his killers. The reluctant nurse aids the gangster, with his kidnapped pregnant wife held captive, to escape what is a corrupt police unit. To say any more would almost spoil the plot.

PB is ambitious, true to the action-chase genre and boasts some nice French cinema, and culture elements (especially visually), but ultimately comes up short of anything other than just plain good. A refreshing spin on this sort of thing, providing a decent afternoon's viewing.

Point Blank (2010)

Not to be confused with the semi-classic 1967 movie of the same title with Lee Marvin, this is not a remake or an echo of that. What this French action thriller is fits another category--the non-stop kinetic run from the bad-guys film, which has become a kind of staple. Think the Bourne movies, or a couple later Liam Neeson films, where the hero gets himself into a terrible situation that requires running and running and running.

And that's enough, in a way, because you can't stop looking. There are no lulls. In fact, some of the moments have such kinetic surprise to them they deserve study. Your stomach will turn. Don't expect a big rationale. Don't even quite expect to care for anything except that our main man, and his wife, survive the ordeal. There are crosses and double-crosses. There is horrid abuse of women which I could do without (the rationale might just be the perils of Pauline kind of thing, saving her with the handsome male to the rescue, but it's just plain abusive). There is one female cop who is a great tough archetype. And lots of bad violent men.

But, truly, none of this is meant to matter. You just grab onto the handles and don't let go. It's really really well made, visually, the camera-work and editing taking front seat. I'd see it on the biggest screen you can, since that's where it's all at.

Point Blank fmovies. Someone who complains about "lack of depth" doesn't get it. This is a very well-acted--in fact brilliantly acted--well-directed, well-paced, well-plotted thriller. If you want "depth", see subtle films about love and betrayal and friendship, etc. Nothing wrong with that, but this is a thriller. We know enough about the characters to make us care, and man, we do care! and make them believable. That's quite enough for a thriller.

As others have observed, the actors are magnificent. First, the unwilling hero: as in great Hitchcock films (I'm thinking particularly of "North by Northwest"), he's an ordinary guy, not a tough, trained super-hero. Gilles Lelouche is totally convincing in that role. And the one who seems to be the bad guy, Roshdy Zem, and who develops in the course of the film, is perfect. Neither he nor anybody else in this film overacts.

Smart action thrillers are rare. Rarer still is a smart action thriller that features a complex yet comprehensible (and credible) plot, characters you care about, and vivid, crisp directing. "Point Blank" is one of these rarities. It utilizes many elements of classic action films—an innocent "good guy" who unwittingly becomes caught up in a dangerous plot, a woman in jeopardy, corrupt cops, and unexpected twists. The film avoids cliché, however, and it moves along at lightning speed (total running time is about 80 minutes). The French setting is an added bonus, and the acting and editing are very well done. Subtract a star if subtitles annoy you.

this movie will keep your eyes open and sit on the edge of your chair once it starts. i often consider the good french action thrillers are the most creative and original, that's why Hollywood keeps copycatting and adapting from the french movies one after another once there are new good french thriller movies in the market. "the next three days(not a bad adaptation)" and "the tourist(just horrible!)" are the most recent examples adapted from the french originals.

this 'point blank' is a great thriller from beginning to the end. the chases from the hospital to the subway station and the chaos in the hospital and the police central are just exceptionally directed, edited, acted. i was sleepy before watching this movie, but once it started, the heavy eyelids just became light and wide open.

i didn't quite like the final scene. it seems a bit unnecessary but at the same time quite necessary, and that's a funny thought.